Your lower back pain is due to slip joints, not herniated discs

Your lower back pain is due to slip joints, not herniated discs

Many people with back pain are told that it comes from a bad disc and requires medication, injections or surgery. However, research has shown that people with back pain actually have problems with the spinal joint. This article explains what causes most lower back pain and what can be done about it.

First, let's go to bed and erase the idea that lower back pain is caused by a bad disc. A recent study conducted at the Mayo Clinic and published in the American Journal of Neuroradiology confirms that MRI scans showing disc problems are not the cause of back pain. The researchers found that MRI scans showing disc problems are extremely common in pain-free people. In other words, people who don't have lower back pain can have an MRI that shows disc bulging, protrusion, and degeneration and still have no pain.

The researchers said their study suggests that findings of storage space narrowing, disc degeneration, loss of disc height and other disc abnormalities are part of the normal aging process rather than pathological processes that require intervention. They went further and said that most disc degenerative changes are no more significant than gray hair or crow's feet around the eyes.

Let’s also clarify the term “slipped disc.” From a medical point of view, a disc does not slip back and forth. It may bulge, protrude, herniate, or degenerate. It doesn't slip back and forth or slip in place. Slipped disc is a layman's term similar to trick knee, cauliflower ear, or double joint.

If the discs are not the source of back pain, what is? Again, much scientific research suggests that this is due to misalignment and improper movement of the spinal joints. There are 24 spinal bones called vertebrae that make up our spine. Between each vertebra are joints called facet joints. Due to the stress we place on our backs during our daily activities, the facet joints are subjected to significant stress. The accumulation of this stress can cause these joints to become misaligned and not move properly. The medical term for this is “joint dysfunction.” When this occurs, it causes the majority of the lower back pain that we experience on a daily basis. In a sense, we could create a layman's term and call this condition “slip joints.”

The majority of people who suffer from back pain due to joint dysfunction can be helped by chiropractors. Chiropractic care should be the first line of treatment. It is successful in a significant majority of cases where people suffer from back pain.

The next time a person says, “I have a herniated disc and need surgery,” they should be told, “You have a herniated disc and need chiropractic care.”

Inspired by James Schofield