Lower back pain is the leading cause of disability in the world, affecting over 600 million people.
Though it can occur at any age, it’s most common in persons over 50 and most severe in people over 80. Due to hormonal changes and the strain of childbearing, women are more likely to suffer from it than men. Injury is the leading cause of back pain, followed by ruptured discs, arthritis, and osteoporosis. In most cases, the pain resolves after a few days or weeks. However, it can sometimes persist even after the initial injury has been treated, due to factors such as:
- Age. As we get older, the discs between our vertebrae can lose their elasticity, reducing their ability to support weight and absorb impact.
- Fitness. Lack of exercise can weaken the muscles that support the spine, making it more susceptible to strain.
- Weight. Excess body weight puts added stress on the back, often leading to pinched nerves and compressed discs.
- Genetics. Certain health conditions, such as lumbar disc disease, have strong genetic components that can be passed down through families.
- Occupational Hazards. Jobs that involve heavy lifting and repetitive motion can put a lot of strain on lower back muscles, as can sitting all day in a chair with poor lumbar support.
- Smoking. Smoking restricts blood flow to vertebral discs, causing them to degenerate at an accelerated rate.
- Muscle Fatigue. Carrying heavy loads all day can wear out back muscles. Overloaded backpacks are the leading cause of lower back pain in children and adolescents.
- Poor Posture. When the spine is not naturally aligned, weight isn’t distributed evenly along its discs, muscles, and vertebrae, leading to pain and discomfort.
Challenges Treating Lower Back Pain
The spine is a complex system, with multiple working parts. Because vertebrae, nerves, tendons, ligaments and muscles are all susceptible to injury and degeneration, pinpointing the cause of lower back pain can be difficult, even for a skilled physician. Several different parts of the spine may be damaged, making it impossible to cure the problem with a single treatment.
What’s more, back problems are highly variable. Differences in age, fitness, and lifestyle often mean that treatments aren’t universal. Solutions have to be tailored to each individual, as what works for one person may not work for another. Chronic back pain generally requires a multidisciplinary approach, combining exercise, surgery, medication, and modifications to your way of life. And while some of these interventions (e.g. lifestyle changes) are simple and straightforward, others (e.g. surgery, medication) can come with complicated, long-lasting, and unpleasant side effects. It’s one of the primary reasons the problem persists in so many countries and why so much time is devoted to researching alternative treatments.
Treating Lower Back Pain with PEMF
Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy is a high-tech treatment that stimulates the body’s natural, regenerative process. Every cell in your body communicates through bioelectric signals, which are controlled by ions that circulate in and out of cell membranes. Because ions are positively charged and resting cells are negatively charged, they react to magnetic fields.
PEMF therapy takes advantage of this by applying intermittent, current-generated magnetic field pulses to damaged tissue. By matching the frequency of target cells, it induces cellular resonance, which occurs whenever an external magnetic force matches your body’s electromagnetic field. This realigns the electric charge in your cell membranes, allowing more ions to flow inside. The flow of ions accelerates the intra and extracellular exchange of nutrients, which helps rebuild damaged tissues.
Benefits of PEMF Therapy
Besides enhancing cellular activity, PEMF is also low-risk, non-thermal, and non-invasive, which has made it a promising treatment for lower back pain. Already, studies have shown that PEMF helps people recovering from spinal surgery. Even elderly patients with multiple risk factors saw better results and greater mobility following their procedures. But PEMF may be most valuable at treating pain with no discernible cause, in cases where the benefits of surgery and medication are uncertain.
When researchers looked at 60 individuals suffering from non-specific back pain, patients who received physical therapy and PEMF improved faster than patients who received physical therapy alone. This fits exactly with reports from Aura Well patients. Time and again, they’ve found that combining PEMF with targeted therapy reduces pain and restores mobility in an accelerated timespan.
For one patient, a 30-year-old man with insidious-onset lower back pain with radiating symptoms, the combination of PEMF and lumbar exercises eliminated over 90 percent of his discomfort in just four sessions. The stiffness in his lower back and gluteal muscles vanished almost completely and he was able to resume all his daily activities with only occasional and minimal discomfort. Pain and inflammation were effectively gone and he was able to fully extend his lumbar muscles again after only four visits!
Fighting Lower Back Pain with AuraWell
AuraWell helps rebuild damaged tissue. Our unique, high-powered design creates a healthy cellular environment that promotes healing. By working with the body’s natural, restorative processes, we produce better results in less time. Contact an AuraWell practitioner today for powerful relief from lower back pain.
