The human skeleton is a marvel in the animal kingdom, having features not found even in our closest primate relatives. Millions of years ago, our ancestors traded their tree-bound vegetarian lifestyle for a life of running and chasing game across the plains of Africa, setting us apart from the other modern Great Apes. This lifestyle meant bipedal walking and a larger brain, and our skeleton reflects that in its S-shaped spine, upright pelvis, long legs, and relatively short arms. This gave our ancestors many advantages, though even today, upright walking comes with some costs, too. Walking upright means fighting gravity more acutely than any other animal does, which stresses the spine and may cause pain. Today, many millions of people suffer from chronic back pain, but fortunately, there are many medical options to fix that. While some patients need surgery or medication, non invasive methods work well on other cases, such as physical therapy tools and muscle strength testing equipment in a hospital. Such rehab tools are a fine way to measure a patient’s progress and arcs of motion. Chiropractors and yoga experts can help out, too.
Back Pain Frequency and Causes
In the United States in particular, there are plenty of cases of back pain and spinal disorders, and statistics are being kept on this. A lot of data is compiled every year to track every aspect of Americans’ health, and that includes the spine, too. The numbers show that at any given time, around 31 million Americans suffer from chronic back pain, and what is more, around 50% of working-class Americans admit to having back pain symptoms to some degree or other. Experts have said that as much as 80% of the American population will suffer from back pain at some point in their lives, and today, one in three women and one in four men experience it. The elderly in particular might get chronic back pain, along with other joint issues such as arthritis.
What might cause back pain like this? A number of causes have been identified, and one of them is physical trauma. Someone who suffered a sports i9njury, for example, may need recovery in a hospital, which includes the use of rehab tools and rage of motion testing solutions to track their recovery. Meanwhile, many surveyed Americans blame ongoing stress for causing their back pain, and pregnant women may experience spinal distress late in their pregnancy. A lifetime of hard manual labor may also cause back issues, as even developed nations like the United States have many physical manual labor jobs (such as construction). And simple old age can cause back pain too, when many decades of upright walking add up to a lot of wear and tear on the spine. This may case the spine to deform and compress, stressing joints and pinching nerves as well as straining muscles. Fortunately, chronic pain conditions like these can be addressed with non invasive medicine.
Rehab Tools and Systems
A patient in a hospital, who suffered an injury, may get access to rehab tools such as strength and arc of motion testing devices. This may involve stretching out large rubber bands, or computer cameras tracking the patient’s movement. All of this allows therapists to track the patient’s recovery and see how close they are to restoring full flexibility and strength. This may be done for the arms, legs, back, or even the neck, and that helps determine when the patient is ready to be released from the hospital.
Not everyone who suffers back pain is in the hospital, but there are some other options to try. Someone suffering back pain may visit their private physician and explain their problem, and their doctor can refer them to a yoga studio or chiropractor’s office. A chiropractor uses basic tools and even their bare hands to readjust a patient’s bones and muscles to relieve pain and stress on the joints, muscles, and nerves. A patient may also sign up for private yoga sessions, and during those sessions, the patient will bend and stretch their body in rigorous but natural ways to relieve pressure on compressed joints and ease strain on pinched nerves and muscles. This can also restore full arcs of motion and flexibility, too.
