Chiropractic Care for Lower Back Pain in Macomb, MI

Lower back pain can make even ordinary movements difficult. Getting out of bed, sitting at your desk, bending over, walking, working around the house, or doing the activities you enjoy can suddenly become painful. And while the pain may seem to appear overnight, the problem has often been developing much longer.

Long hours of sitting, poor posture, repetitive movement, physical work, old injuries, and problems involving the joints and discs of the spine all place stress on the lower back. With more than 40 years of chiropractic experience, Dr. Pavel Bence, DC, CCWP focuses on finding what is causing the pain, correcting the problems he identifies, and restoring better movement and function.

“Low back pain is the symptom that gets your attention, but my job is to find out what’s causing it. Once we understand the problem, we can start working on correcting it.” Dr. Pavel Bence, DC, CCWP

Frequently Asked Questions About Chiropractic Care for Lower Back Pain

Can a Chiropractor Help With Lower Back Pain?

Yes. Lower back pain is one of the most common problems Dr. Bence treats. Pain can come from restricted or misaligned spinal joints, muscle strain and imbalance, improper lifting, poor posture, sacroiliac joint dysfunction, or problems involving the discs and nerves of the lumbar spine.

An examination identifies what is causing your pain and how your lower back is functioning. When a chiropractic problem is present, adjustments restore better movement and alignment to the affected joints while exercises, stretching, and other care address the supporting muscles and help stabilize the lower back.

What Causes Lower Back Pain?

There isn’t one cause of lower back pain. Problems involving muscles, spinal joints, discs, nerves, posture, and the sacroiliac joints of the pelvis all contribute. Sometimes the problem begins with an obvious injury, while other cases develop gradually through repetitive stress, prolonged sitting, and poor biomechanics.

Symptoms provide important clues, but the examination determines which structures are involved and where treatment needs to be focused.

How Can I Tell if My Lower Back Pain Is Muscular or Coming From a Disc?

Muscle strains often produce a dull, aching pain that becomes more noticeable with movement and may begin after lifting, twisting, overstretching, or physical activity. A bulging or herniated disc also causes lower back pain, but when a disc irritates or places pressure on a nearby nerve, pain can travel into the buttock or leg and may be accompanied by numbness, tingling, or weakness.

Because symptoms sometimes overlap, Dr. Bence uses your history and examination findings to determine which structures are involved rather than relying on the location or type of pain alone.

Can Sitting Too Much Cause Lower Back Pain?

Yes. Sitting for long periods is an important contributor to many of the lower back problems Dr. Bence sees. Extended sitting can weaken the core muscles that stabilize the lumbar spine and tighten the hip flexors. Poor sitting posture adds additional stress.

Over time, these changes affect how the spine and pelvis move and make the lower back more susceptible to recurring pain or injury. Treatment addresses the spinal dysfunction as well as the movement, flexibility, and strength needed to keep the same problem from being recreated between visits.

Can a Bulging or Herniated Disc Cause Lower Back Pain?

Yes. The discs between the vertebrae act as cushions while allowing the spine to move. Trauma or repetitive stress can damage the outer fibers of a disc and allow the softer inner portion to push outward.

A bulging or herniated disc causes pain in the lower back, and when it irritates or compresses a nearby nerve, symptoms can extend into the buttock or leg. Dr. Bence evaluates spinal movement, alignment, nerve involvement, and the condition of the lumbar spine to determine how a disc problem is contributing to your symptoms and how chiropractic care should be approached.

What Happens During My First Chiropractic Visit for Lower Back Pain?

Your first visit begins with understanding how the pain started, what movements aggravate it, how it affects your daily activities, and whether previous injuries or everyday activities are contributing. Dr. Bence then evaluates your posture and lower back and performs the orthopedic and neurological testing appropriate to your condition.

When X-rays are appropriate, they provide additional information about the lumbar curve, spinal alignment, and the condition of the bones and discs. These findings allow Dr. Bence to develop a care plan specifically for the problem he identifies.

How Does Chiropractic Care Help Lower Back Pain?

Chiropractic adjustments restore better motion and alignment to restricted or misaligned joints in the lower back and reduce mechanical stress on surrounding muscles, discs, nerves, and other tissues.

Treatment also addresses the factors supporting those spinal changes. When weak core muscles, tight hip flexors, poor posture, or other muscular imbalances are contributing, exercises and stretching help strengthen and stabilize the lower back. The goal is to correct as much of the underlying problem as possible so your back moves and functions better.

How Many Chiropractic Visits Will I Need for Lower Back Pain?

Your care plan depends on what is causing your lower back pain, how long the problem has been developing, the condition of your spine and supporting muscles, and how your body responds to treatment. Some patients begin noticing improvement quickly, while long-standing or recurring problems generally require more time to correct.

Your progress is evaluated throughout care and treatment is adjusted accordingly. Rather than putting every patient on the same schedule, Dr. Bence bases care on the individual problem and the progress being made.

How Dr. Bence Evaluates Lower Back Pain

The lower back has a demanding job. It supports much of your body’s weight while allowing you to bend, twist, sit, stand, walk, and move through everyday life. That requires the vertebrae, discs, spinal joints, nerves, muscles, and pelvis to work together properly. A problem with one structure changes how the others function.

A lower back evaluation begins with a detailed history. Dr. Bence wants to understand when the problem started, what makes it better or worse, whether the pain travels, what activities you perform regularly, and whether previous injuries could be contributing.

He then evaluates posture and movement and uses orthopedic and neurological testing to identify the structures involved. When appropriate, X-rays provide additional information about the lumbar curve, spinal alignment, bones, and discs. Together, these findings provide the mechanical and neurological picture needed to determine where treatment should be directed.

Why Lumbar Alignment and Movement Matter

When viewed from the side, a healthy lower back has a natural forward curve called the lumbar curve. This curve helps the spine distribute weight and absorb the forces created by standing, walking, lifting, and other movements.

Changes in normal alignment alter how weight and movement are distributed through the lower back, increasing stress on spinal joints, discs, muscles, and nerves. Movement is equally important because spinal joints are designed to move. When an area becomes restricted or misaligned, surrounding structures compensate. Muscles tighten, other joints take on additional stress, and normal movement patterns begin to change.

Chiropractors use the term subluxation to describe areas where spinal joints have become misaligned or are no longer moving and functioning properly. Dr. Bence looks for these areas because spinal function and nerve function are closely connected. The nervous system consists of the brain, spinal cord, and spinal nerves, and the nerves serving the lower body exit through openings between the vertebrae of the lower spine.

When spinal dysfunction creates unnecessary stress around these structures, chiropractic adjustments restore better movement and alignment and improve the way the spine functions.

“The spine isn’t just a stack of bones. The joints need to move properly, the muscles need to support them, and the nerves need room to function. That’s why we look at the whole picture when someone comes in with low back pain.” Dr. Pavel Bence, DC, CCWP

Common Causes of Lower Back Pain

Understanding why your back hurts is important because different problems require different approaches. Disc problems, degenerative changes, sacroiliac joint dysfunction, and muscle strain are among the conditions Dr. Bence commonly evaluates.

Bulging and Herniated Discs

The discs between your vertebrae act as shock absorbers and help the spine move. Each disc has a tougher outer portion surrounding a softer inner material. Trauma and repetitive stress gradually damage the outer fibers of a disc, allowing the inner material to push outward and create a bulge or herniation.

When the problem remains localized, you may primarily experience lower back pain. If the disc irritates or places pressure on a spinal nerve, symptoms can travel into the buttock or leg. That relationship between the lower back and leg is why disc problems are also associated with sciatica.

Treatment is based on how alignment, movement, disc health, and nerve involvement are contributing to the individual problem.

Degenerative Disc Disease

Spinal discs lose height and hydration over time. As a disc becomes thinner, movement through that part of the spine changes and the space available around nearby nerves can decrease.

Age is one factor, but lack of movement, poor biomechanics, excess weight, smoking, physical labor, and previous spinal trauma also contribute to degenerative changes. When degeneration is present, chiropractic care focuses on improving alignment and movement in the lumbar spine and reducing mechanical stress around the affected area.

Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction

The lower back doesn’t end at the lumbar spine. The sacroiliac, or SI, joints connect the sacrum at the base of the spine to the ilium bones of the pelvis. These joints transfer forces between the upper and lower body and absorb stress as you move.

When an SI joint isn’t functioning properly, pain can be felt across the lower back, buttock, or pelvic region. Leg-length differences, hip imbalance, pregnancy, and repetitive stress all contribute to SI joint problems. When examination findings identify SI dysfunction, chiropractic adjustments and appropriate stretches restore better pelvic movement and reduce the mechanical stress contributing to the pain.

Muscle Strain

A muscle strain often produces a dull, aching pain that becomes worse with movement. It can develop after lifting something awkwardly, suddenly overstretching, repetitive activity, poor posture, or using poor body mechanics.

The muscle itself is only part of the picture. If spinal restriction, poor movement patterns, core weakness, or another mechanical problem contributed to the injury, ignoring those factors leaves the patient vulnerable to repeating it. Looking at how the entire lower back functions helps identify what needs to change beyond allowing the strained muscle to heal.

Why Sitting Changes Your Lower Back

Prolonged sitting is one of the patterns Dr. Bence frequently sees in patients with lower back pain.

When you sit for hours at a time, the muscles responsible for stabilizing your lower back aren’t challenged the way they are when you’re standing and moving. Core muscles weaken while the hip flexors remain shortened and tight. Because the core stabilizes the lumbar spine and the hip flexors influence the pelvis and lower body, this imbalance changes posture and places additional mechanical stress on the lower back.

Correcting spinal movement is important, but maintaining that improvement also requires the muscles surrounding the spine to do their job. For many patients, chiropractic adjustments are combined with specific movement, stretching, and strengthening to address both sides of the problem.

How Dr. Bence Treats Lower Back Pain

Treatment is built around the findings from your examination rather than a standard approach used for every patient.

When restricted or misaligned joints are present in the lumbar spine or pelvis, chiropractic adjustments restore better motion and alignment. Improving the way these joints move reduces mechanical stress on surrounding muscles, discs, and nerves and helps the lower back function more normally.

The technique, areas adjusted, exercises, and other recommendations are selected according to the problem Dr. Bence identifies. A patient with an SI joint problem does not need the same approach as someone with a disc problem, core weakness, or a recent muscle strain.

Strengthening and “Flossing” Your Spine

Exercise is an important partner to chiropractic adjustments. The exercises Dr. Bence recommends strengthen the muscles supporting the lower back, improve stability, and keep the lumbar spine moving. Patients learn how to perform them in the office and receive a routine they can continue at home.

One phrase he uses is “flossing your spine.” Just as you don’t wait for a dental problem before flossing your teeth, Dr. Bence encourages patients to keep their spine moving even when they aren’t experiencing pain. He typically has patients perform their lower back exercises twice a day, once in the morning and again before bed.

The purpose is to maintain motion, strengthen the structures supporting the lower back, and protect the progress being made through chiropractic care.

The Wobble Ball

Another tool Dr. Bence uses is a wobble ball, an inflated balance disc that you sit on while performing controlled movements. Because the surface moves beneath you, the core and stabilizing muscles have to respond while the lower back moves in different directions.

The wobble ball encourages lumbar movement while helping patients work on stability and healthy spinal motion. More importantly, it gives patients another practical way to participate in improving and maintaining how their lower back functions.

What You Do Between Visits Matters

Lower back pain often develops from patterns that repeat every day. Changing those patterns helps reinforce the progress being made in the office.

Breaking up long periods of sitting, improving posture, using better lifting mechanics, and following the exercises and stretches selected for your condition reduce repeated stress on the lower back. The objective is to have your everyday habits support your chiropractic care rather than continually recreating the same mechanical problems.

When Lower Back Pain Travels Into the Leg

When a lumbar disc or another structure irritates a nerve, lower back pain can travel into the buttock and down the leg. Depending on the nerve involved, you may also experience tingling, numbness, burning, or weakness. This pattern is commonly associated with sciatica.

Dr. Bence evaluates the lower back along with the neurological symptoms to determine where the irritation is occurring and what is contributing to it. If you are experiencing radiating leg pain, you can also learn more about his approach on our Sciatica Treatment page.

When Lower Back Pain Needs Immediate Attention

Most lower back problems Dr. Bence sees are evaluated in the chiropractic office.

Knowing when a problem requires another type of care is part of a thorough chiropractic evaluation. If Dr. Bence identifies something that requires additional medical evaluation, he will explain what he found and recommend the appropriate next step.

More Than Temporary Lower Back Pain Relief

Getting out of pain matters. So does improving how your lower back functions once the immediate pain begins to settle.

That is why care at Bence Chiropractic Wellness Center addresses the spinal and pelvic problems Dr. Bence identifies while giving patients practical ways to improve strength, movement, and stability between visits. The goal is not simply to help you feel better today. It’s to improve how your lower back functions and give you the tools to maintain that progress and reduce the likelihood of the pain returning.

“Getting you out of pain is important, but I also want your back functioning better so you can improve your quality of life. If we can correct the problem and teach you how to maintain that improvement, we’ve accomplished much more than temporary relief.” Dr. Pavel Bence, DC, CCWP

Chiropractic Treatment for Lower Back Pain in Macomb, MI

If lower back pain is making it difficult to sit, stand, sleep, work, exercise, or move comfortably through your day, Dr. Bence will evaluate what is causing the problem and determine the appropriate chiropractic care for addressing it.

Bence Chiropractic Wellness Center provides chiropractic care for lower back pain in Macomb, MI, serving patients from Sterling Heights, Shelby Township, Clinton Township, Utica, and surrounding communities.

Whether your symptoms started today or have been bothering you for years, we’re here to help. Walk-in appointments are always welcome.

Call (586) 978-9900 to schedule a lower back pain evaluation with Dr. Bence.

Related Conditions

Sciatica

When low back pain travels into the leg, it’s often related, see how we approach sciatic nerve pain specifically.

Learn more