Arthritis of the Spine
Jul 02, 2015
Many people come into the clinic with back pain and a common thing that I am told by the clients is, “I have arthritis in my spine”. There is a common misconception out there that if you have arthritis in your spine, you will have pain. Arthritis in the spine also means degeneration of the intervertebral discs. Studies have shown that lumbar disc degeneration is present in 40% of individuals under the age of 30 and present in over 90% of those present between the age of 50-55. Other studies showed that amongst healthy young adults (20-22 years old) with NO back pain, 48% had at least one degenerated disc and 25% had a bulging disc. We live in a society where we depend so heavily on X-rays and MRIs to determine why we have pain. In reality, disc degeneration or arthritis in the spine is a normal part of aging and may not be the primary cause of your pain.
Back pain is usually as a result of the soft tissue around the spine, such as your muscles. The muscles in your back usually tighten up as a protective mechanism due to core weakness. When people are told after an Xray that they have arthritis, many people assume that nothing can be done about it and they just have to live with the pain. There is no way reverse the arthritis but physiotherapy can help to decrease the pain. We can help by working on those tight muscles and giving you a strengthening program to help decrease the incidence of back pain in the future.
If you are having back pain, we can help. Give us a call to make an appointment at any of our clinics. You don’t have to live with back pain!
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