Better than Boot Camp? Try Chiropractic Care!

Posted by: The Balancing Center

A recent piece from NPR details an alternative technique some people try to alleviate their back pain. “Back pain boot camp” rehabilitates sufferers by having them exercise through their back pain; this helps strengthen their back muscles and conditions the sufferer to not be as sensitive to her back pain. This boot camp is often a last resort after failed attempts at surgeries, painkillers, and spinal injections.

It might seem counterintuitive to work through pain when, “Normally pain is an alarm bell that says, ‘Stop what you're doing right now or you may hurt yourself!’” The piece highlights, quite correctly, “that pain is a false signal. It's not about looming danger; it's actually caused by hypersensitive nerves.” Pain can indeed be a poor indication of illness. We often forget that pain is often the last symptom to arise from an illness and that many pain-free people can have unseen health problems. So, sometimes we do have to work through the pain to get out of it. And sometimes we might not be in pain but need a health change anyway.

The piece highlights how sufferers from back pain received no relief from surgery, spinal fusions, and painkillers. But I wonder: did they try chiropractic care? After all, even though chiropractic care offers a wealth of benefits, alleviating back pain is what it’s known and famous for!

A misalignment of the vertebrae can be a direct irritant of those “hypersensitive nerves,” bulging discs, and herniations. Nerve disturbances caused by spinal misalignments can cause mild to severe back pain that persists through painkillers and surgeries. If you’re out of balance, all the surgeries and spinal injections in the world won’t help since your body cannot accept and adapt to those cures. Underneath surface level changes, your imbalanced spine and body can and will most likely revert back to its unhealthy foundation.

The piece highlights how this is a “different way of thinking about pain” and The Balancing Center happens to specialize in that difference. We get you back into balance. Once you are aligned and balanced, you can avoid surgery and any rehabilitation, physical therapy, and strengthening exercises will be even more effective since your body can fully accept their benefits.

At “back pain boot camp,” the philosophy seems to be movement can override pain. Chiropractic care is also great at facilitating pain relief through the movement of muscles by directly addressing joint dysfunction and reestablishing proper joint mechanics.

Some graduates of back pain boot camp report that their back pain still returns. And if they are out of balance, even with stronger back muscles and decreased nerve sensitivity to pain, this makes sense. The root cause of their pain still affects them. If their spines remain misaligned, surgery, physical therapy, spinal fusions, and painkillers are mere stopgaps.

Before you resort to surgery or spinal fusions or even boot camp, give chiropractic care a try. If we can heal the underlying cause of your pain, your illness can unravel and you can get back into balance, achieving health and robust wellness.