Solving Problematic Back Pain With Whole Body Vibration
Strong muscles keep your body upright and allow you to move. Good muscle strength and balance are critical to maintain proper posture and minimize muscle tension.
Your muscles function much like the wires that hold up a tall radio or television antenna. If the wires are equally strong on all sides, the antenna will stand up straight. If one of the wires becomes weak or breaks, the antenna will either lean to the side or collapse. The same is true with your body. If the muscles on all sides of your spine are balanced and strong, your body will stand up straight and strong. Unfortunately, most people don’t have balanced and strong muscles due, once again, to lack of exercise and to misalignments of the spine.
Muscles are very efficient at getting stronger or weaker in response to the demands placed on them. Since most of us sit at a desk, drive a car, and sit on the sofa at home, many of our muscles are not challenged. Consequently, they become weak. At the same time, the muscles that are constantly used throughout the day become strong. This imbalance of muscle strength contributes to poor posture and chronic muscle tension. Left unchecked, muscle imbalances tend to get worse, not better, because of a phenomenon called reciprocal inhibition.
Reciprocal inhibition literally means shutting down the opposite. For all of the muscles that move your body in one direction, there are opposing muscles that move the body in the opposite direction. In order to keep these muscles from working against each other, when the body contracts one muscle group, it forces the opposing group to relax — it shuts down the opposite muscles. When only one set of muscles is consistently used, the opposing group, from being continuously shut-down, is liable to atrophy.
This phenomenon is especially important to people who work at a desk, because all day long the same muscles in the upper back and chest area of the body are used. This means that all day long the body is essentially shutting down the opposite muscles in the middle back. Over time, the muscles in the middle back become very weak because they are not being worked like the muscles in the front. This contributes to poor posture and chronic muscle spasms and pain.
The easiest way to correct this imbalance is to do whole body vibration specific exercises that will increase the strength of the back muscles, along with manual therapy and chiropractic care. Once the muscles in your middle back are strong, the tightness and poor posture simply disappear.
Chiropractors Embrace Whole Body Vibration Therapy
“Chiropractic is the largest, most regulated, and best recognized of the complementary and alternative medicine professions.” (CAM) (Meeker, Haldeman; 2002; Annals of Internal Medicine)
There are more than 70,000 active chiropractors in Canada and the US. Back pain is the second leading cause of all physician visits in Canada and the U.S. Chiropractic is highly recognized and respected worldwide as an integral health care profession. Chiropractors are licensed physicians who offer skilled care in hospitals and other health care clinics.
It didn’t take long for Chiropractors to adopt Whole Body Vibration Technology and appreciate the short and long term benefits. Upon visiting a Chiropractor, Physiotherapist or Massage Therapist you may have experienced being prepared for your treatment with a device called a tens machine or thumper. The purpose of these “massage” units is to stimulate and warm the muscles of the area to be treated, prior to manipulation. Chiropractors quickly discovered that WBV could accomplish this goal in an expedient manner. Standing on a whole body vibration plate for only a few moments helps loosen all of the muscles groups offering the patient additional benefits of circulation and relaxation.
The discs between your vertebrae are designed to act as cushions or shock absorbers and nourishing them is very important. Most symptoms of back pain frequently involve soft tissue surrounding the spine. When the capillaries essential for lubrication are restricted, so is the flow of healing blood, mineral nourishment, and the removal of lactic acid and toxins.
When Chiropractors utilized whole body vibration with their patients, they discovered basic healing benefits like increased blood circulation and lubrication of the entire back area. With spinal/skeletal adjustments and vibration therapy, they noticed a decrease in pain and an increase in the healing process. Vibration plates evolved from just warming up the patient to helping treat many spine related issues, sport injuries, osteoporosis, arthritis, and other issues Chiropractors face daily.
“Overall it was easier to administer the spinal manipulative treatments because the muscles were more relaxed. The need to apply soft tissue therapy was decreased. An interestingly appreciative finding was seen after the first week of treatment. The patient’s spine was holding its alignment determined by the significantly less areas of tension noted in the spine.” Dr. Nimet Meghji TCM, DC, CAFCI
NOTE: The information presented is not intended to diagnose or prescribe. Pain can be from many causes, be sure to consult your health care professional before starting this or any exercise regime.
Are you a chiropractor who is currently using or interested in using whole body vibration in your practice? We work with chiropractors all over North America. Contact us for more information on our chiropractor program.