How A Single Back Injury Can Lead To Pain All Over
Over most of the body, if you get injured somewhere, that's where you experience the pain. While the same can be said of the back, it's also possible for your back to be injured and for you to experience pain in seemingly unrelated places. People often don't even realize that the two forms of pain are related until a doctor tells them the cause. If you've been experiencing body pain since you hurt your back, read on to learn why and what you can do to mitigate it.
The Spine's Role
The spine is more than just bones in your back. It's responsible for allowing you to be flexible, for sending signals throughout your body, and for communicating with the brain. Although the spine only runs from the buttocks up to your skull, an injury to the back or the spine can potentially cause pain everywhere, since the spine sends signals everywhere.
Touching Nerves
When your spine is injured, even if it's a very minor injury, it can have a serious effect on the nerves running through it and alongside it. Bruising, swelling, or damage to the spine can cause the spine to narrow, putting pressure on those nerves.
Healthy nerves that aren't being abnormally touched send signals from your brain to distant parts of your body. However, when the spine impinges upon them, the nerves misinterpret that signal as pain. In some instances, that pain isn't felt in the back at all, but instead at the end of where the nerves are sending their signal to.
For example, if a nerve in your back is pinched or impinged and it sends signals to your hip and leg, you could be experiencing burning, stinging, or even numbness in your hip and leg. Trying to treat the problem where the pain is won't have much of an effect, since that's not where the discomfort is originating from.
What To Do
If you've hurt your back and are now experiencing bodily pain elsewhere, you should get in contact with a chiropractor. Chiropractors are masters of diagnosing and discovering problems with the nerves and spine and gently adjusting the body to help take pressure off of those nerves.
A good chiropractor will take x-rays to ensure that they can see what's going on inside your body before making any adjustments. They'll also get detailed information from you on where your pain is and what kind of injury you suffered. From there, they'll adjust your spine and body either with their hands or another object, like an activator tool.
With a successful adjustment, you will be feeling far less pain. Any time your back is injured, you should visit a chiropractor for immediate care, even if you aren't yet feeling pain. Doing so can help to prevent the distant pain in your body due to nerves that can become excruciating. Contact a clinic, like Hope Health and Wellness, for more help.
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