Once you feel
low back pain, you don’t want to experience it again.
Back pain, though, is not typically a one and done condition,
yet life goes on and takes you with it. Pain
lessens. You begin moving and doing
what you did prior. Your
activities of daily life get finished. On occasions,
it takes a bit longer to get back to the activities
and/or the way you do the activities. Back belts may help
with these residual issues of Sitka back pain.
BACK BELTS
FOR WORKERS WHO LIFT, BEND, TWIST
One
study of material handlers with back pain assessed the use of
extensible, non-extensible, and no belts in back pain patients and healthy control volunteers. The researchers
checked for two outcomes: pain-related and biomechanical. As
far as biomechanical outcomes go, both the belt types reduced
lumbar spine range of motion equally in low back pain patients as
in healthy volunteers doing small and deep trunk flexion
motions. (Yay!) Both belts also decreased pain, the fear of pain,
and the catastrophizing of pain in the back pain patients. (Another great
outcome!) Belts may permit for a slow
return to physical work activities to prevent disability or sustain
the motion of these activities after a low back pain episode. (1) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka appreciates these additions to the healing process.
BACK BELTS
FOR OFFICE WORKERS
Another
study of extensible, non-extensible, and no belt use in low back pain office
workers was done. Biomechanically, belt use in all three
groups (those with back pain who wore either type of belt and those
who were healthy office workers) enhanced sit-to-stand
movement. For the back pain patients, belt use decreased pain
intensity, pain-related anxiety, and pain catastrophizing. The researchers proposed
that either type of belt may be beneficial in daily life activities of patients with low back pain and of healthy
office workers. (2) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka favors the use of tools that
keep our Sitka back pain patients active and mobile
and confident in their ability to be active and moving. We work with
our patients to design a Sitka chiropractic treatment plan that may or may not involve
a back belt and watch its use so that it
remains a helpful tool and not a hindrance to healing.
USING A BACK
BELT
We do not
want you to fear using a back brace for a while. There is
some controversy over belt use, but a back belt may also help as described
in these papers. Know that Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka will work with you and
your specific condition as to whether back belt use may be of value.
All of us just want pain relief and a return to activities that you enjoy.
CONTACT
Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka
Listen to
this PODCAST
with Dr. Nate McKee on The Back
Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson. He discusses his
use of the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for managing
spinal stenosis and related balance issues for which one test
is the sit-to-stand test discussed in these studies.
Set
up your Sitka chiropractic appointment
soon. Sitka chiropractic care gets
the desire to not ever feel back pain again. We want our
Sitka back pain patients to know that there is hope,
there is a way, and there is a return to life and its activities with
tools like back belts incorporated into a treatment plan alongside
spinal manipulation, nutrition, exercise, etc.