Low back pain affects 80% of the population at some stage of life. At any one time a fifth of people are suffering from it.

 

Low back pain refers to the area from the hips and pelvis, the lower part of the torso as far as the rib cage. There are a variety of causes of back pain from the innocuous, like a muscle strain to something quite sinister, so it is important, especially if you’ve had the problem a while that you get it checked out. Ignoring the pain or brushing it under the carpet with painkillers is a mistake that a lot of people make and can either result in a delayed diagnosis of a more worrying problem or a long and arduous future of recurrent and annoying pain.The difference between acute and chronic back pain is not the nature of the pain but the duration. Acute pain is less than 3 months’ duration whilst chronic pain is more than 6 months. The reason that it is always important to get your back pain checked out is that once the problem falls into the chronic category, there is a 90% chance you will never return to normal and it will affect your personal and work life in one way or another.Other symptoms that can go hand in hand can be leg pain, numbness in the lower leg and feet and weakness in the legs.Your chiropractor is trained to find out the root cause of the problem. They will either refer you back to your GP for more tests and scans or devise a course of treatment and rehabilitation plan with the best chance of recovery as a primary outcome.