Like many issues in the human body, there is typcially a cause-and-effect relationship happening. A common example of this is when cortisol is increased, blood pressure rises. It is no different when females are on their period and start to experience low back pain. When females are on their period or even the week leading up to their period, they tend to experience an increased intensity of low back pain.
Without boring you with anatomical terminology that many people may not be able to pronounce, let me simply break it down for you.
The nerves in our body all originate from the spinal cord which is protected by the bones of your spine (vertebrae). When it comes to period cramps, which are small muscle spasms in the uterus, those nerves orginate from different levels of the low back (L1-L5 vertebrae). The cramping signal is relayed up to the brain and processed as discomfort or pain that you feel -- your body is very intelligent when it comes to pain. However, the same nerves that innervate the low back muscles also originate from the same levels of the nerves that innervate the uterus. The pain in your low back is actually referred pain from the uterus called viscero-somatic pain -- viscero (organ) to somatic (body) pain. Moreover, your muscles start to feel worse because all the pain signals are converging at the different levels of where they originate from; creating confusion in the body and leaving you feeling like it's that time of the month.
But do not fret. Chiropractic care can do absolute wonders in mitigating intensity of that low back pain. Manipulation of the joints near those nerves can down-regulate pain signals allowing you to feel your best while on your period.
Dr. Erik Eggert
Contact Me
