Paracetamol and back pain – Advice from North London Chiropractor

All across North London and the country there will be plenty of people suffering from back pain.  It isn’t a very nice thing to deal with;  it can hurt a lot, make you lethargic and in particularly bad cases can leave you all but debilitated. Many of us suffering with back pain will turn to a painkiller to help us out but does paracetamol actually do anything?  As a busy North London Chiropractor one of the most common injuries my clients come in with is back pain.  This leaves me well-placed to offer you advice on back pain and how to treat it.

Types of back pain

Back pain comes in all different shapes and sizes and the key to getting your treatment right is finding out which type of back pain you are suffering with.  There are a few different types of back pain:

Mechanical – This is what the majority of people that suffer with back pain have.  It means that there are no serious underlying issues and conditions and no trapped nerves.  It is not always clear what causes mechanical back pain but it can often be because of poor posture and sitting in an uncomfortable position.

Wear and tear – Quite simply as we get older our body gets older and wear and tear may contribute to back pain. The shock absorbing pads or discs on your spine can narrow with age and cause stiffness and pain.

Trapped nerves – Potentially the most serious type of back pain is that of trapped nerves, but essentially this can also happen because of wear and tear or mechanical problems.

 Paracetamol and coping with back pain

As a leading North London chiropractor I get asked by patients if painkillers will help or which painkillers can I recommend.  Many of us will take paracetamol to cope with back pain,  some of you will think this helps but research carried out in Australia with 1650 sufferers of back pain begs to differ.  The research looked at sufferers taking regular doses of the common painkiller and sufferers using a ‘placebo’ and saw no difference in the recovery time of the back pain sufferers.

This isn’t to say that medical advice should change on the basis of one study or that other painkillers won’t help but that paracetamol may not be as effective as you think.

Treating back pain

By taking painkillers you are actually hiding the problem.  The best way to treat back pain is to visit a chiropractor.  We are highly trained professionals that are governed by national regulations and we are experts in the field.  As a north London Chiropractor I will  assess a patient to discover the true extent of any back pain before deciding upon a course of treatment. This will usually involve manual sessions but can come in the form of acupuncture,  life-style advice stretching exercises or general rehabilitation.

If you feel like you need any further advice or a one-to-one session to avoid any back pains,  then please  contact us at the Muswell Hill Chiropractic clinic on 020 8442 008.