I've always appreciated the fact that most patients that I see have a mechanical problem with their back, neck, hip, shoulder...etc that I can help them with. Rarely, I come across a patient who doesn't fit the mold of a mechanical problem causing their pain. Possibilities include cancer, heart, gallbladder, prostate and more.

Recently, I had a patient whose low back pain was caused by lung cancer that spread (metastasized) to their spine. The cancer eventually caused a weakening of the bone structure of a vertebra leading to pain in his back. Although worse than normal, he was not that concerned because he had always had some amount of chronic back pain so he never came in for evaluation until it was too late

I write about this because so many people have chronic pain in their back, neck, hip...etc but they never get it looked at. They figure that it will eventually go away. It's only when the pain gets so bad that it interferes with their daily activities, do they eventually come in.

Most times, it's a mechanical problem that's treatable with chiropractic therapy but occasionally it's not. In those cases, early detection can be a matter of life and death. And, if it proves to be mechanical, prompt treatment always resolves the condition faster anyway, so you're better off getting it looked at. So, if you've been having pain that's lasting more than a week or two, I urge you to get it checked out. It's better to be safe than sorry.