It would make logical sense to most people that if you have pain or symptoms in a certain area of your body, then the problem is at the site of discomfort. While this can be true, a lot of times the symptoms you feel are coming from another area in your body.
For example, if a nerve is irritated in your neck, it can cause numbness, tingling and pain in your hand or fingers. You may not even have any symptoms in your neck. Often, I see cases where patients have severe lower back imbalances and pain. In these cases, its not uncommon for patients to feel severe pain referring into their leg. The pain in the leg or arm can be worse than the back pain. Referred pain is common in many medical conditions. A person suffering from a heart attack can often feel pain in the left shoulder and jaw. Why does this happen? Your body has a complex web of nerves connecting to all areas. If a part of your body is damaged or irritated, the nerves in that area are connected to other parts of your body and can send messages creating pain, burning and pressure far from the site of origin.
Why is this important? As a chiropractor for 23 years, I feel very fortunate to understand these concepts as it allows me to be very effective helping correct the issues patients are suffering from. Chiropractic is an amazing profession because it looks at the body as a whole. If a patient comes in with shoulder pain, we know that the patient may have a rotator cuff tear or strain. However, we also know it can be referred pain from the neck. Therefore, we may adjust the neck which can resolve the shoulder pain.
In addition, knowing where the cause of the symptoms are located can help patients with self treatment options. For example, if you suffer from severe leg pain referred from the lower back, you would use ice on the lower back instead of the leg. There is nothing wrong with the leg.
Chiropractic principles allows us to pinpoint the location where the symptoms are coming from. As a result, we can be very effective in resolving the health concerns patients have.
Yours in health,
Dr Marty
Iron Spine Chiropractic