When you have back or neck pain immediately after hurting it from lifting something heavy, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what caused the pain. But there are many low back and neck pain patients who had no real trauma or can’t recall a specific injury. Some patients complain the pain just slowly came on and got worse and worse, while others woke up in the morning with it. It makes sense to hurt your back from lifting a heavy box, but is it possible to injure your spine while sleeping? The answer is yes! Keep reading this post to find out why and what you can do about it.
Whether you hurt your back/neck from lifting something way too heavy or from lifting something as light as a single shoe, the injury is the same. When the spine misaligns, it causes the nucleus of the disc to shift, making it herniate and bulge into the nerve. Most of the time, this occurs from physical trauma, however the disc can also shift from repetitive motions and also static positions held for extended periods. This means sleeping with your neck out of alignment all night encourages spinal misalignments and discs to bulge.
So this means you can hurt your low back or neck from one big, cataclysmic trauma, a series of small injuries or even just holding still long enough in the wrong position. It seems like our spines are doomed no matter what we do! The best way to safeguard yourself against trouble big or small, is to become friends with a good chiropractor. These doctors are trained in finding and fixing pertinent spinal misalignments and correcting herniated discs without surgery.
Good chiropractors can also often predict areas of future weaknesses and can address them early to help prevent further issues. At Blue Ridge Family Chiropractic, Dr. Levesque uses the Gonstead method to help do this for patients with acute neck and low back pain. He also places a great emphasis on determining the cause of the misalignment so we can try to prevent it from reoccurring. Sometimes this means discovery and change of certain sleeping positions or work habits, etc. Call us at 276-614-8124 or schedule a consultation with Dr. Levesque here.
