In a world where ‘more is better’ it can be easy to forget how to slow down. In fact, taking time to ‘just be’ is something that many of us deny ourselves. This has great consequences, such as a build up of physical and mental stress and tension, contributing to aches, pains, and even illness. We can find ourselves drained, and unable to fully take on all the things we hope to accomplish.
It’s likely that you associate back pain with getting older, but you may be surprised to learn that it can be common in children and adolescents. The one year prevalence rate of low back pain (LBP) has been shown to be anywhere from 7% to 58%. In fact, the lifetime prevalence of LBP by age 20 has skyrocketed by a staggering 80% increase! As a result, we should pay careful attention to the habits and behaviours of the youth in our lives and find ways to provide them with relief if they are experiencing symptoms, as well as help them to prevent pain in the future.
CHILD’S POSE
Lower back pain is incredibly common, with up to 85% of working people experiencing it during their lifetime. While it may seem somewhat innocuous, pain in this area actually results in 6 to 12 billion dollars of medical costs in Canada per calendar year. With this in mind, let’s take a look at one of the most beneficial yoga poses for low back — Child’s Pose.
Child’s Pose helps to decompress and lengthen your spine through gentle and restorative stretching. It also aids in digestion, opens the hips, massages the internal organs, calms the mind and stretches the ankles, shoulders, and the front of your thighs.
To perform the pose, firstly come onto your hands and knees. Next, bring your hips back towards your feet while simultaneously bringing your chest towards the floor, with your arms outstretched. Let your forehead rest on the ground. Breathe. You can stay here for as long as you experience relief, just resist the urge to do it everywhere you go ; )
Fascia, you may have never heard of it, but it is an absolutely integral network of thin connective tissue that holds your organs, blood vessels, bones, nerve fibres and muscles in place. Although it may appear as no more than a tightly woven cobweb, fascia plays an incredibly important role in the way you move and feel.spider
How many of you got a sunburn over mother’s say weekend? We did. It was still chilly out, but that sun was bright and caught us off guard. If you know us, you’ll know how careful we are with sun exposure - yes sun exposure is important, but equally important is safe sun exposure. When it comes to sunscreen, what is better - spray or lotion? Let’s see what the EWG has to stay about it.
MRI findings of joint deterioration are often interpreted as causes of pain, which can trigger costly medical treatments and surgery. Many of the MRI changes may actually not be the source of the pain, and are associated with the aging process.
Asymptomatic findings:
Neck - 5-35% disc herniation or bulge
Low back - 68-96% disc degeneration and 50-84% disc buldge
Shoulder - 55-72% labral tear
Knee - 43% cartilage lesions, 19% meniscal tear, and 37% osteophytes
What should you do?
Consult a care provider that treats your symptoms and not your imaging (treat the patient, not the scan!). Treatment should include exercises, manual therapy and education.
Recognize that these “abnormal findings” can be part of aging and don’t always require “fixing”
Understand, just because you have pain today, doesn’t mean you will always have pain! Look at the stats, there is a lot of the population with MRI findings that still live their lives pain free!
Don’t be afraid to live your life! Bring back movement to the area with the help of your chiropractor.
Don’t think of it as “degenerative changes” reframe the language into “normal age-related changes”
* Imaging is useful for the differential diagnosis of many conditions, including ruling out serious diseases that can present as musculoskeletal pain, and should be used with appropriate clinical reasoning*
References:
D'Antoni & Crott. J Whiplash Rel Dis 2006
Brinjikiji et al., AJNRR AM J Neuroradiology 2015
Schwartzberg et al., Orthopaedic J Sports Med 2016
Culvenor et al., Br J Spors Med 2019
Heerey et al., Br J Sports Med 2018
Disclaimer
None of the information provided on this website should be substituted for medical evaluation, diagnosis, or treatment from a licensed healthcare practitioner.
