In the animal kingdom, the human skeleton is unique in its design, shaped by millions of years to adjust for a bipedal lifestyle. Our ancestors traded their lifestyle in the trees for a life of running and hunting game, and this meant learning to walk and run upright at all times. Thus, the modern human skeleton features an S-shaped spine, long and tough leg bones, relatively short and thin arms, and an upright pelvis. These evolutionary changes gave our ancestors many advantages, though there are also some costs to a full life of walking upright and fighting gravity. Even today, many people around the world suffer from chronic pain conditions such as lower back pain and spinal disorders. The more serious injury cases call for surgery and medication, but back adjustment tools and other physical therapy tools may be used for non invasive medicine. Motion testing equipment, automatic strength tests, and other back adjustment tools may be found in a hospital, while other back pain sufferers may turn to chiropractors and yoga experts for help. Even without back adjustment tools on hand, yoga experts and chiropractors can do a lot of good.
On Back Pain and Its Causes
The American healthcare industry is truly vast, and it covers many different arenas of a person’s health. This includes back pain, among others, and many surveys and statistics can track how often Americans suffer back pain and why. The numbers show that nearly half of all working Americans admit to getting back pain symptoms, and experts say that around 80% of all Americans will experience back pain at some point in their lives. At any given time, around 31 million Americans are experiencing chronic back pain, and one in three women and one in four men may be affected by it.
What might cause all this pain? Many surveys have pointed out common causes today. Many surveyed Americans blame ongoing stress in their lives for their back pain, and pregnant women may get back pain later in their pregnancies. Meanwhile, years of hard manual labor may certainly cause back pain, such as construction jobs, and injuries such as sports injuries may cause back pain, too. And sheer old age may cause back and spine issues, as many decades of fighting gravity will compress the spine somewhat and bend the spine out of shape. All of this may put pressure on nerves, inflame joints, and strain muscles. Fortunately, patients young and old alike can have back pain treated with back adjustment tools, a yoga expert’s guidance, and more.
Rehab Tools and Systems
If a patient is in a hospital and they have spine or back issues, physical therapists can help them recover. Many hospital patients have distressed spines, shoulders, knees, or necks, and they may need guided therapy for recovery. The patient may undergo a variety of training regimens to restore their strength, stability, and arcs of motion, and this progress is tracked with rehab stretch tests and motion capture software. In this way, the rehab therapists can determine when a patient has fully restored their arcs of motion and muscle strength, and this determines when that patient can be released. The patient’s arcs of motion will get wider and their strength output will increase as they progress.
Other Recovery Methods
Someone with back issues doesn’t have to visit a hospital to recover. Such a patient may visit their private physician and explain their back issues, and in turn, that doctor may refer them to a local yoga expert or a chiropractor’s office. Chiropractors are specialized doctors who can use simple back adjustment tools and even their bare hands to adjust bones and muscles in the patient, which helps relieve pressure on joints, muscles, and nerves alike. This can restore arcs of motion and erase pain, no medicine or surgery needed.
Meanwhile, someone suffering from back issues may also find a yoga studio and sign up for private practice sessions. This allows the patient to perform guided stretches and poses that relieve pressure on compressed joints or nerves, which relaxes muscles and clears away pain. Someone may do this to recover from a sports injury, or the elderly may do this to deal with chronic joint pain.