Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine is a Toronto naturopathic clinic dedicated to providing safe and effective treatment of a wide variety of health conditions using natural therapies and the principles of naturopathic medicine.
Chronic back pain is well treated using naturopathic medicine. A very common symptom, chronic back pain causes include muscle or ligament strain, spinal column misalignments or fixations, disc bulges or herniations, arthritis or osteoporosis. Generally, if self-care is not effective in 72 hours professional care will be required.
Seek emergency medical care if your back pain:
- Accompanies weakness in your legs and/or loss of bowel or bladder control
- Accompanies a fever and warmth in the area of the pain
- Accompanies pain or pulsation in your abdomen
- Accompanies unexplained weight loss
- Is constant and intense, especially at night or when you lie down
- Extends down your legs
- Follows a fall or blow to your back
- Is a new symptom and you have a history of cancer, osteoporosis, or alcohol or steroid use
Back pain treatment at Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, the goals of back pain treatment are significant and eventually complete pain reduction, and prevention of recurrence.
Conventional treatment of back pain may include a variety of medications, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), opiates, antidepressants and steroid injections which may have short- or long-term side effects. For this reason, you may choose to try natural treatment to possibly avoid use of conventional medications, or together with conventional medications in order to decrease dosages of conventional medications required to manage your back pain.
Naturopathic treatment of any chronic health concern must be recognized as a process that involves identifying specific treatment goals, a thorough understanding by your naturopathic doctor of all factors affecting your health, including physical, psychological, emotional and lifestyle factors, development of a comprehensive treatment plan and execution of that plan through periodic monitoring and adjustment.
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine a typical approach to treating chronic back pain is to first identify and address underlying factors in your lifestyle (e.g., stress, weight management, sedentary lifestyle). Where appropriate, a number of therapeutic options are available, to be used alone, or more often in a complementary fashion, including:
- Acupuncture
- Bowen Therapy
- SuikodoTM
- Hydrotherapy
- Exercise prescription
- Relaxation techniques
- Nutritional supplements
- Botanical (herbal) medicines
- Homeopathic medicines
Reference
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Back Pain [Online]. [cited 2009 Feb 18]; Available from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/back-pain/DS00171