Did you know that nearly 80% of people will be troubled by back pain at some stage of their lives? Almost half of all employees will take time off because of back pain in any given year. These are surprising statistics.

While injury and illness accounts for many causes of back pain, the majority of people experience back pain without having these causes. Even some injuries, caused by lifting, bending or twisting are not caused by the action so much as the inability of the muscles to perform that action.

We live in a world of convenience; we have convenience food so we don’t have to prepare meals; we have convenience stores; we have access to cars and transport; we have touch-button homes and lifestyles, this means that all the muscles in our bodies are not used in the way that nature intended. The result of the modern lifestyle is imbalances in the finely-tuned network of muscles that we were supplied with.

When anything gets out of balance, problems set in. When our muscles are out of balance, the correct posture of our body is compromised, problems start to appear which eventually cause us pain. You might have been diagnosed with a crushed or herniated disc or something similar; while this is causing you pain, the real cause is the muscle imbalance that caused to disc to deteriorate over a period of time.

Your doctor may have prescribed analgesics, anti-inflammatory drugs or other medication. You may have been given a standard sheet of ‘back pain’ exercises to do or referred to a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist. Some of these treatments may have given you a degree of relief from your back pain, but until you correct the imbalance of your muscles to improve your posture, the relief cannot be permanent.

A chiropractor cures the body holistically; that is, the body as an entire entity, not just the back pain. After thorough initial examination, the chiropractor will perform a series of adjustments by massaging and stretching muscles or gently manipulating the spine. Specific stretches or exercise may be recommended, and further adjustments may be needed. If you haven’t yet tried chiropractic treatment for your back pain, it could be a successful method for you. It is safe, non-invasive and will improve your mobility as well as ease your back pain.

You can also treat back pain by yourself. There are several back pain reliefs available. Ten minutes of normal walking is enough to move every muscle associated with your back. Begin a new routine of walking for 10 minutes a day to help correct muscles imbalances and enhance your fitness. Form another habit of being aware of your posture through the day; draw in your abdominal muscles, stretch the back of your neck and stretch your shoulders back and down. Gradually your muscles will learn to stay in a more balanced position and your back pain will ease.