Sciatica & Back Pain Relief

Managing and relieving back pain is not a simple process. The experience of pain is subjective; it cannot be measured from the
outside. Health providers who treat back pain find it challenging to obtain the objective or measurable signs that verify and diagnose a patient's painful back symptoms.

Additionally, everyone's experience of pain is different. Pain descriptors encompass numerous adjectives - dull, sharp,
throbbing, pulsating, stabbing and shock-like, just to name a few.

People experience and describe pain so differently partly due to its varied and complex origins. In fact, pain originates from
numerous places in the body, such as muscles, bones, nerves, organs or blood vessels.

Pain is also described as acute or chronic. The word "acute" derives from the Latin word for needles and is usually described
as a severe, sharp sensation. The initial stage of an injury is called the acute phase.

The word "chronic", on the other hand, originated from the Greek word for time. Chronic pain is pain that persists after a length
of time, often months to years. Many back injuries tend to become chronic, especially when not treated properly during the acute
phase. Chronic pain is often experienced as a dull ache or constant nagging irritant.

Acute and chronic pain sensations also travel different nervous system pathways inside the body. When you injure muscles or
ligaments in your back, nerve endings called pain receptors pick up the pain impulses and transmit them to the spinal cord. From
here, the pain message ascends to the brain. This process takes place at varying rates of speed depending on the size of the
nerve fiber involved.

Acute pain tends to travel on faster, larger diameter fibers, while chronic pain prefers smaller, slower pain fibers. Experts
suggest that chronic pain affects the brain's limbic system, which is associated with emotional states. Anyone who has ever
had a long-term painful injury knows that negative or distressing emotions may accompany or perpetuate the initial injury.

The best way to treat chronic back pain syndromes is to prevent them. Although proficient early treatment does not always prevent an acute injury from turning into a chronic problem, it is a good insurance policy. Early treatment is especially important with injuries to the soft tissues (muscles, tendons and ligaments) to prevent them from becoming weaker, less elastic and more
pain-sensitive.

One of the best ways to treat both acute and chronic soft tissue injuries is a hands-on approach that works to repair the injured
tissues. Some examples are joint and soft tissue manipulation and mobilization, typically performed by a doctor of chiropractic or
osteopath. Other good options are massage and physical therapy. A formal rehabilitation program at a health club or therapy clinic may also help to strengthen weakened and damaged muscles, especially the core stabilizers of the back.

This is a selection of useful articles about what you can do to relieve your sciatica with home treatment and get relief from back pain.

• Great News For Sciatica and Back Pain Sufferers 

Find out about the Better Back System and How You Can Stop Your Sciatica and Back Pain Naturally Without Harmful Drugs or Surgery in Just 5 to 10 Minutes per Day"

• Back Pain? Relief is Possible

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• Beating Your Neck, Back and Shoulder Pain

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• How to get rid of back pain

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• Managing and Relieving Back Pain

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• Change your mattress for back pain relief...

Change your mattress for back pain relief...Back pain can be a serious problem that can bring relief by choosing the proper kind of mattress. Normally, back pain comes from things like bad posture, improper...

• Chronic Back Pain

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• Keep Back Pain At Bay

Back pain is the most common complaint among adults under 45. Back pain brings their activities to a complete halt and intervenes in the progress of their career. Researchers say that it...

• Defeating Back Pain Forever

By: Jim OConnor - The Fitness Promoter August 21, 2005 (c) Jim OConnor / Wellness Word, LLC - All Rights ReservedBack pain, one of the most common physical, and debilitating ailments today, affects...

• Massage Chairs Offer Relief from Obesity Related Back Pain

According to the American Obesity Society 64.5 percent of Americans over twenty years old are overweight and 30.5 percent are obese. These figures represent the growing epidemic of obesity in the United...