Once you experience
low back pain, you don’t want to feel it again.
Back pain, though, is not commonly a one and done condition,
yet life marches forward and takes you with it. Pain
diminishes. You get moving and doing
what you did before. Your
activities of daily life get done. Sometimes,
it takes a little longer to get back to the activities
and/or the way you do the activities. Back belts may come in handy
with these residual issues of McHenry back pain.
BACK BELTS
FOR WORKERS WHO LIFT, BEND, TWIST
One
study of material handlers with back pain assessed the use of
extensible, non-extensible, and no belts in healthy and in back pain
patients. The researchers
evaluated for two outcomes: pain-related and biomechanical. As
far as biomechanical outcomes go, both the belt types reduced
lumbar spine range of motion the same in low back pain patients as
in healthy volunteers doing small and deep trunk flexion
motions. (Yay!) Both belts also decreased pain, the fear of pain,
and the catastrophizing of pain in the back pain patients. (Another great
outcome!) Belts may allow for a steady
return to physical work activities to prevent disability or sustain
the motion of these activities after a low back pain episode. (1) OrthoIllinois Chiropractic appreciates these additions to the healing process.
BACK BELTS
FOR OFFICE WORKERS
Another
study of extensible, non-extensible, and no belt use in low back pain office
workers was performed. Biomechanically, belt use in all the
groups (those with back pain who used either type of belt and those
who were healthy office workers) enhanced sit-to-stand
movement. For the back pain patients, belt use decreased pain
intensity, pain-related anxiety, and pain catastrophizing. The researchers suggested
that either type of belt may be helpful in daily life activities of patients with low back pain and of healthy
office workers. (2) OrthoIllinois Chiropractic favors the use of tools that
keep our McHenry back pain patients active and mobile
and confident in their ability to be active and mobile. We work with
our patients to create a McHenry chiropractic treatment plan that may or may not include
a back brace and observe its use so that it
remains a beneficial tool and not a deterrent to recovery.
USING A BACK
BELT
We don’t
want you to fear using a back brace for a while. There is
some controversy over belt use, but a back belt may also help as described
in these studies. Know that OrthoIllinois Chiropractic will work with you and
your specific condition as to whether back belt use may be beneficial.
All of us just want pain relief and a return to activities that you enjoy.
CONTACT
OrthoIllinois Chiropractic
Listen to
this PODCAST
with Dr. Nate McKee on The Back
Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson. He describes his
use of the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for managing
spinal stenosis and associated balance issues for which one test
is the sit-to-stand test discussed in these studies.
Set
up your McHenry chiropractic appointment
soon. McHenry chiropractic care understands
the wanting to not ever feel back pain again. We want our
McHenry back pain patients to realize that there is hope,
there is a way, and there is a return to life and its activities via
tools like back belts integrated into a treatment plan with
spinal manipulation, nutrition, exercise, etc.