How to Get Relief for Low Back Pain | Hagerstown Chiropractor Explains What's Causing Your Ache
- Jan 26
- 5 min read
Hi, I’m Dr. Patrick Walsh from Walsh Chiropractic and Physical Therapy in Hagerstown. I’ve been helping people in our community with spine-related pain since 2018, and one of the most common things I see in the clinic every single week is low back pain.
In the short video below, I break down what’s actually happening when your back locks up, and in this blog, I want to go a little deeper into the muscles, causes, and how we approach treatment here in the clinic.
Read the Full Video Transcript Here
A lot of people come in for lower back pain. So, in the next couple minutes, what we're going to do is we're going to talk about uh low back. I'm Dr. Walsh. I've been here in Hagerstown treating patients since 2018. Actually, I'm now at Walsh Chiropractic and Physical Therapy in Hagerstown.
So, the first thing we're going to talk about is low back pain. Low back pain is pretty general. There's a lot of different things that can happen with low back pain, but typically with just I'm sore, I can't move, I might be in spasm, you've got a couple things going on, and it could be anything actually. Weekend warrior. Especially in the spring, people come out, you know, after the winter and they're not doing a lot and then next thing you know they're doing some yard work and they come in here, low back's bothering them. They've been, you know, spent all weekend bent over putting in mulch, doing something with yard, weeding, what have you. Doesn't matter.
That's typically an overuse, fatigue of basically a couple muscles. Your paraspinals that come down on each side. Then you have multifidus underneath and QL. Those are your three main muscles that do things for the low back.
And with that, that's kind of easy because what happens is with any fatigued muscle, it becomes overused. And what happens is it'll go into a tight spasm. It can cause pain depending upon motion, position, posture, what have you. It's not really that bad. What you do typically is as a physical therapist and as a chiro, you adjust, of course. Uh you do different techniques and stretches uh to loosen it up.
Typically, I don't like to exercise a fatigued muscle that's in spasm. The chances of you sending it further into spasm is pretty high. So, I do a couple stages. The first stage, critical stages, I like to treat the issue, try to get you in as much comfort as possible, as early as we can.
Once the muscle reaches a certain level of relaxation and stays there, then we can start to work on the problem. There's only about two things with muscles, especially in this condition. Number one, muscles aren't either strong enough or they don't have the endurance. And that's typically more of an endurance, right? So, you're in a position and it's holding you up for a certain amount of time that's not normal for you. It gets fatigued. It's just not used to doing that. You don't have to be super strong, but you do have to have a certain endurance.
Uh deadlifting injury, that could be strength coupled with a disc issue and that depends, you know. So there's a lot of variability in low back pain and that's basically it.
So what we do is when the patient comes in, number one we get the history, we get the mode of injury, uh and then we do different tests, orthopedic tests, to discern you know the severity and what's going on. Is there any radiculopathy, anything running down the leg or you know halfway down the leg, sciatica, things like that where a disc can be.
So that's about it for low back pain.
Common Causes of Low Back Pain
Low back pain is a broad term because there are so many different causes. Sometimes it’s a sudden injury. Sometimes it creeps in from repetitive overuse or poor posture.
Here in Hagerstown, I often see people this time of year, especially in the spring, come in after doing yard work, laying mulch, or weeding for hours over the weekend. I call it the weekend warrior effect. You go from winter hibernation to full-on physical labor, and your back isn’t quite ready.
When that happens, it’s usually not a serious injury. It’s often muscular fatigue and spasm.
The Muscles Behind Low Back Pain
There are three key muscle groups we look at when treating mechanical low back pain:
Paraspinals – muscles running along the spine
Multifidus – smaller stabilizers underneath
Quadratus Lumborum (QL) – deep lower back muscles involved in side bending and posture
These muscles can easily become overworked, especially when holding you in one position too long or performing unfamiliar activities.
What Happens When These Muscles Fatigue?
A fatigued muscle will usually tighten or spasm to protect itself. That’s when the pain kicks in. You might feel stiffness, soreness, or difficulty moving depending on your posture, position, or activity.
In these cases, we’re not typically dealing with a disc herniation or nerve compression. We’re dealing with muscle overload.
And here’s the key: you don’t want to exercise a muscle that’s already in spasm. That’s like revving an engine when it's overheated. You’ll just make the problem worse.
Our Step-by-Step Chiropractic Approach to Low Back Pain
At Walsh Chiropractic and Physical Therapy of Hagerstown, we treat low back pain in carefully staged phases:
1. Initial Evaluation
We start with a thorough history. How the pain started, when it shows up, and what movements aggravate it. Then we perform orthopedic and neurological tests to determine if any disc involvement or nerve symptoms are present.
2. Phase One: Reduce Spasm and Pain
In the early stage, we focus on:
Gentle spinal adjustments
Muscle relaxation techniques
Light mobility work
Our goal is to get the muscles to relax and get you out of pain as soon as possible.
3. Phase Two: Rebuild Endurance and Stability
Once the muscles are no longer in a protective spasm, we shift into corrective care. This may involve:
Postural retraining
Functional movement patterns
Core endurance building
Low back pain often comes down to two root causes:
A lack of strength
A lack of endurance
Not everyone needs to be powerlifting, but your muscles do need the ability to support your spine over time, especially during work, lifting, or standing.
When It's More Than Muscle
In some cases, we do uncover more complex issues like:
Disc bulges or herniations
Sciatica or radiating leg pain
Chronic instability
That’s why we take a full-body, whole-picture approach to care. We blend chiropractic adjustments with therapeutic rehab to restore both alignment and function.
Final Thoughts: Your Low Back Is Telling You Something
Whether you’ve had low back pain for years or it just flared up over the weekend, your spine is trying to communicate that something isn’t working right.
Ignoring it, stretching the wrong way, or pushing through the pain usually leads to longer recovery times or recurring flare-ups.
If you’re in the Hagerstown area and want answers, let’s take a look. We’ll evaluate what’s going on, review your spine mechanics, and guide you step-by-step toward long-term relief.
