Healthy News June 2021

Back pain patients come to Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka with all sorts of different issues. Some walk better than others. Some have stronger muscles than others. Some are more susceptible to depression than others. Your Sitka chiropractor understands this and joins each back pain patient where s/he is and examines each patient to find the difference(s) that make all the difference when putting together a relieving chiropractic treatment plan. Assessments like the 6-minute walk test that measures the distance walked in 6 minutes and the TUG (‘time up to go’ from a seated position) test can be quite informative of musculoskeletal and cardiovascular health in degenerative lumbar spine patients. Both may be triggered by back pain. (1) Back muscles that weaken and turn fatty (like the multifidus muscle tends to do) indicate issues with inflammatory and regeneration processes. (Back surgeons do not like this as a inferior surgical outcome is likely.) (2) Chiropractors get this and encourage gentle exercise for these back muscles as a component of the treatment plan to prevent recurrent back pain that some lumbar disc degeneration patients endure. A new study described that those who tend to get recurrent back pain were shown to move differently, more causiously, likely to evade pain. Recurrent back pain patients also experienced higher levels of anxiety, depression, and disability as well as a reduced quality of life. (3) Your Sitka chiropractor welcomes all back pain sufferers with all their peculiarities. Your chiropractor teams up with with each one during the current back pain event and beyond to control the back pain (emotional, physical and mental aspects), so it does not control them.