Do you periodically find yourself disabled by bouts of back pain? Whatever form it may take, chronic back pain can put all kinds of limits on your life — until you finally start taking the necessary steps to address it head-on.
But you don’t have to schedule major surgery or allow yourself to become addicted to prescription painkillers just to keep this lurking monster at bay.
Conservative strategies such as physical therapy and smart lifestyle practices can help you manage your chronic pain for life. Ask our physical therapist to evaluate your conditions and recommend specific treatments!
What exactly is chronic back pain?
If you’ve ever injured your back in a car crash, high-impact sports injury or work-related accident, you know just how bad back pain can get.
As horrendously painful as that acute back pain may be, however, at least it goes away at some point. Chronic back pain hangs on long after an acute injury or other ailment should have resolved it through healing.
Chronic back pain is pain that persists for three months and longer. This type of pain can be due to a variety of reasons, including arthritis of the spine, aging, disc problems and myofascial pain syndrome.
About 20 percent of people who have back pain will have it develop into chronic back pain with persistent symptoms. This type of pain ranks number three on the scale for the most burdensome conditions for Americans.