Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries Helps Back Pain Sufferers Fight Fear Avoidance and Move More
Fear of back pain? Once you have had it, you answer “yes!” Your Manchester chiropractor gets this. Manchester back pain and neck pain patients do not want to experience that pain again. Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries helps spine pain sufferers get their confidence back with encouragement and exercise.
FEAR AVOIDANCE DUE TO BACK PAIN
Back pain sufferers don't want to revisit back pain if they can help it. That desire - whether obvious or subtle, stated or just ruminated in the mind – establishes the situation for a behavior known as fear-avoidance. Patients with persistent spinal pain syndrome - post-surgically induced or not – elicited high levels of fear avoidance, anxiety, and depression. (1) Researchers noted that the pain experience is not just physical as emotions, behaviors and beliefs are involved as well. Fear avoidant behavior like fearing the act of lifting an object grows and affects muscle behavior without realizing it. A recent study compared fear-avoidant beliefs and the use of lumbar paraspinal muscle activity while lifting in both back pain and in pain-free volunteers. Fear of lifting an object with a flexed spine as described in a questionnaire was negatively associated with erector spinae activity to protect the spine from injury. The proper way to lift has been discussed for a long time. Lifting with a straight back has been portrayed as safer than lifting with a flexed back though research has not necessarily supported that while lifting with a lordotic posture has been found to result in more erector spinae muscle activity giving rise to muscle fatigue and pain. (2) Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries knows the importance of managing fear avoidance and its link to better quality of life.
HOW TO MANAGE FEAR AVOIDANCE
Researchers documented that back pain sufferers today ‘get’ that they must keep active but some require a little more support and encouragement to move and exercise due to a lack of confidence in their backs’ ability to exercise without triggering pain. The healthcare provider not only can give the latest findings on pain control but also coach the back pain patient to be physical in the safest way possible. (3) If you are that patient, Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries is your trainer! We are a team and can help you move easier and with less fear and provide gentle, relieving spinal manipulation. Three months of chiropractic manipulation and exercise for older adults with chronic back pain boosted their self-efficacy and fear-avoidant behaviors as well as reductions in disability. A 30% or more reduction in the Oswestry Disability Index suggested positive response to care. (4) The more engaged a patient is with treatment, the greater the influence on the feeling of self-efficacy and disability reduction. (5) Let us work together to control your Manchester back pain so it doesn’t control you.
CONTACT Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Tom Menendez on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he illustrates the relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for an older patient with back pain for whom fear avoidance is logical.
Schedule your Manchester chiropractic appointment soon so that if you are asked if you fear back pain, you can say “no”!
