Back pain rarely arrives all at once. It starts as a sore spot, then a stiff morning, and before long you are thinking about your back before you pick anything up, sit down, or get out of bed. Most people carry it far longer than they need to, usually because nobody looked past the sore spot.
Here is what tends to be happening. Some joints in your spine stop moving properly, and the rest of your back does their work for them. What hurts is usually the part doing the extra work, not the part that failed. At Momentum Health Center in Arlington Heights we check how your whole spine moves, take digital X-rays on site when they are needed, and tell you what we found in plain words before we build a plan. If it is not ours to treat, we will say so and help you find the right person.
Common Causes of Back Pain
Back pain can come from several places, and often more than one at a time:
- Restricted Joints: When one segment stops moving, the segments around it take on load they were never meant to carry.
- Poor Posture: Long hours seated pull your spine out of its neutral position and keep it there.
- Muscle Strain: Lifting, twisting or a single awkward movement can leave muscles guarding an area for weeks.
- Disc Injury: A bulging or herniated disc can press on nearby nerves and refer pain into the hip or leg.
- Old Injuries: A fall or a car accident years ago can leave a movement pattern your body still works around.
- Degenerative Change: Wear in the joints and discs can narrow space and stiffen the spine over time.
Symptoms Related to Back Pain
Back pain shows up differently depending on what is driving it. Common signs include:
- A dull ache across the lower or middle back that builds through the day
- Sharp pain on bending, lifting or twisting
- Stiffness first thing in the morning that eases after moving
- Pain that radiates into the hip, buttock or down the leg
- Muscle tightness or spasm on one side
Back pain that keeps returning is usually a correction problem rather than a pain problem, and early care can help you avoid the pattern settling in.
Services We Provide for Back Pain Relief
Care is built around what your exam actually shows, drawing on:
Stop Planning Your Day Around Your Back
You should not have to think about your back before you bend down. Dr. Michael Dziurgot has practiced in Arlington Heights since 2009, and the practice holds a 5.0 rating across 419 Google reviews.
We are proud to serve Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect, Palatine, Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village, Wheeling and Buffalo Grove, from an office one block from the Arlington Heights Metra station.
Book your first visit and let us find out what is actually going on.