Central London Chiropractor

Chic Health Chiropractic - Providing Chiropractic services for Central North East London City

Understanding Low Back Injury
What has happened to a healthy gardener, for example, to cause a locked joint and injured low back muscles resulting in spasm and pain? Explaining the reasons for even a minor back strain can get complicated. To keep it simple, we are going to say that the gardener overstretched and injured her muscles during repetitive motions involving stooping over to pick up weeks.

The repetitive nature of her work caused the body to develop protective muscle spasms to prevent further injury to the spinal joint. This led to a fixated joint and continuation of the patient's symptoms. Not unlike the previously mentioned example of the wrist, the low back muscles are pulling against a fixed joint that further aggravates inflammation and the muscle injury.

Chiropractic Solution: Return Motion to the Fixated Spinal Joint
The chiropractor has found low back strain with low back subluxation diagnosed as a fixated or locked joint. In chiropractic, the specific spinal joint that was found to be fixated and the exact nature of that fixation has been noted by the chiropractor as a listing of that joint.

The chiropractor's primary goal is to return motion to the fixated low back joint. The chiropractor may apply ice (i.e. ice pack) if the muscle inflammation is acute, or use some type of physiotherapy instrument, or muscle therapy to reduce muscle spasm. As long as the patient is not too acute, and no contraindications are found on examination, the chiropractor will turn to the central and primary therapeutic tool of chiropractic -- the chiropractic adjustment.

Chiropractic: Adjusting or Manipulation of the Spine
Chiropractors use the terms adjusting and manipulation almost interchangeably. The term adjusting is used more commonly because it implies a specific correction to the spine that distinguishes the chiropractic approach. Chiropractors use a wide range of techniques that include specific adjustments, general manipulation, low force and non-force maneuvers, and an array of eclectic procedures tailored to the individual patient.

The Specific Adjustment

The main chiropractic technique remains the specific adjustment of a joint in the spine. Specific adjustment (also called osseous adjustment) is the technique the chiropractor will use to treat the amateur gardener's locked or fixated joint. The adjustment will begin to return normal motion to that joint.

Chiropractors may talk about 'putting a bone back in place' to help a patient understand the purpose of the adjustment. However, spinal bones (vertebrae) do not go out of place. The spine's architecture includes incredibly strong sets of ligaments, tendons, and muscles governed by an always attentive nervous system that works together to hold the vertebrae in place.

Spinal Ligaments

Therefore, the chiropractor is not putting a bone back into place or cracking the spine. Instead, the purpose of the spinal adjustment is to return motion to an abnormally locked (fixated) spinal joint that causes biomechanical disturbance (i.e. pain).

The adjustment begins with the patient (amateur gardener) on her side. The chiropractor places the patient's low back in a position dictated by the diagnostic findings and slowly brings the low back muscles into a state of resistance. Application of a specific and gentle force will overcome the resistance and rapidly stretch the tissue at the fixated joint.

What Happens When the Spine is Adjusted and What Was That 'Pop'?
Rapid stretching at the spinal joint results in significant therapeutic intervention. The exact nature of the intervention is what chiropractic researchers are just beginning to understand. On one level, muscle and ligaments stretch, blood circulation increases, and nerve fibers fire rapidly at the moment of the chiropractic adjustment. But the picture is more complicated. To understand this complexity, we need to return to the spinal joint and its neuroanatomy; the anatomy of the nerves and the nervous system. This includes the stimulation of mechanoreceptors (responds to mechanical pressure) and the stretching of muscle receptors called muscle spindles, all of which are stimulated by the chiropractic adjustment.

During the adjustment, the low back has undergone quick and gentle stretching of the spinal joint. The patient may hear a cracking or popping noise as the joint is opened. Research has proved that small pockets of air or bubbles are found in the tissue fluid surrounding a joint capsule. When the joint tissues are stretched during a chiropractic adjustment, the pockets of air 'pop' creating a cracking sound.

When the patient gets up from the table, she feels more movement in her lower back. The muscles may still be sore and tight, but spinal motion is improved. She will return to the chiropractor for two or three additional sessions that include muscle therapies and adjusting. Each session will provide more relief. The chiropractor may suggest preventive care such as specific exercises and ergonomic tips on how to correctly bend and lift. Preventive care of this type helps to maintain spinal motion. A follow-up visit may be suggested at three-month intervals.

"London back pain relief"

Please note that Kerri Elston will be on leave until early 2010. Jill Snell will be covering hours in both offices for this period.

Jill Snell
+44(0) 7985 905 371

Fitness First for Women
81-84 Chalk Farm Road London NW1 8AR

Jill Snell

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Kerri Elston
(Away on leave) Saddlers Sports Centre
122 Goswell Road London,
EC1V 7EJ

Kerri Elston

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Since June 2001 the title of 'chiropractor' has been protected by law and it is a criminal offence to describe oneself as any sort of chiropractor without being registered with the The General Chiropractic Council

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