Mr S, a fifty-two-year-old marketing director, presented to his Chiropractic Clinic complaining of a constant, nagging, dull ache type of pain in his low back. These symptoms had not worsened over the fifteen years or so that he had them, but he could think of no specific incident as a cause. He offered a stressful lifestyle as a probable reason.

Examination of his low back revealed very restricted movement of the joints throughout and a flattening of this area which is normally gently curved inwards. Nothing else on examination proved to be a problem.

He was treated using chiropractic spinal manipulation, muscle stretch techniques and postural advice.

A pattern was found after four treatments: the patient responded well, but he would only feel relief for about a week after a consultation. He was advised a gym programme to keep him strong (he enjoyed badminton). By doing regular exercise he managed to keep his symptoms under control for up to a month. However, busy schedules must, and the gym fell away.

As his symptoms increased his Chiropractic Clinic agreed to x-ray his low back. These x-rays showed only a mild case of wear and tear: this was suspected because he improved with care AND keeping active. Since he was not going to the gym, he received treatment at two-week intervals.

Eventually he requested an MRI scan on his medical insurance. He was assured that the the scan would be unlikely to show any abnormality; that turned out to be the case.

The conclusion is that long term low-back pain can be managed with good chiropractic care along with the patient taking some responsibility to keep healthy. X-rays and MRI scans are good diagnostic tools, but cannot always give the answers, especially in the case of mechanical low-back pain, which is the most common type.

By the way, Mr S is continuing treatment at his Chiropractic Clinic.