Neck and Back Stiffness
Muscle stiffness is when your muscles feel tight and you find it more difficult to move than usual, especially after rest. You may also experience pain, cramping, and discomfort due to chronic stiffness. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that 31 million Americans experience low-back pain at any given time.
A few interesting facts about back pain:
- Low back pain is the single leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the Global Burden of Disease 2010.
- Back pain is one of the most common reasons for missed work. In fact, back pain is the second most common reason for visits to the doctor’s office, outnumbered only by upper-respiratory infections.
- One-half of all working Americans admit to having back pain symptoms each year.
- Experts estimate that as much as 80% of the population will experience a back problem at some time in their lives.
- Most cases of back pain are mechanical or non-organic—meaning they are not caused by serious conditions, such as inflammatory arthritis, infection, fracture or cancer.
- Americans spend at least $50 billion each year on back pain—and that’s just for the more easily identified costs.
Muscle stiffness usually goes away on its own but sometimes it can be due to chronic conditions such as degenerative joint disease, degenerative disc disease, or osteoarthritis. You may find relief from stiff muscles with regular exercise and stretching. But in some cases, muscle stiffness can be a sign of something more serious, especially if there are other symptoms present.
Research has shown that chiropractic care not only helps prevent and resolves muscle soreness with treatments such as spinal adjustments and physiotherapies to the muscles, it can also help stop the underlying cause from progressing.
At RTP Chiropractic in Morrisville NC, Dr. Luke Gibson is trained to evaluate these conditions and come up with the best possible treatment solutions.
