Low Back Pain: Lumbar Spine Care for Iowa City Patients
Low back pain comes from the lumbar spine — the five vertebrae that carry most of your body weight. Pain there can be joint-related, disc-related, or muscular, and each responds differently. Sorting out which pattern you have is the most useful first step in choosing treatment.
Last reviewed September 2026 · Educational content published by Iowa City Chiro, powered by Total Health Chiropractic of Coralville, Iowa.
What is the lumbar spine?
The lumbar spine is the lower five vertebrae of the back, sitting between the ribcage and the pelvis. It carries load, allows bending and twisting, and houses nerve roots that travel into the legs.
What are the common symptoms?
- Pain at belt level, often on one side
- Difficulty standing up straight after sitting
- Pain with prolonged standing or walking
- Trouble putting on shoes or socks
- Buttock pain that may or may not reach the leg
- Catching or locking with certain movements
What causes it?
- Lumbar disc irritation, bulging, or herniation
- Facet joint irritation, which often hurts more with backward bending
- Sacroiliac joint irritation at the base of the spine
- Weak or poorly coordinated hip and abdominal muscles
- Heavy or repetitive lifting
- Pregnancy-related load and postural change
- Degenerative change and narrowing of the spinal canal in older adults
When should you get evaluated?
- Leg symptoms — numbness, tingling, burning, or weakness
- Pain that limits walking distance and eases when you lean forward
- Pain not improving after a few weeks of self-care
- Repeated episodes that keep interrupting work or sleep
- Any bowel or bladder change with low back pain — this is an emergency
How does chiropractic care fit in?
Care usually begins with directional testing: certain movements often centralize or reduce symptoms, and those become part of the plan.
Adjustments, traction or decompression, and targeted rehab are combined based on what the exam shows, not on a fixed protocol.
Progress is tracked by function — how far you can walk, how long you can sit, how you sleep — not just by a pain number.
Other therapies Total Health may use when appropriate
Not every patient is a candidate for every therapy. What is used depends on your exam.
Chiropractic adjustments
For lumbar and sacroiliac joints that are moving poorly.
Spinal decompression
Considered when disc involvement is suspected and appropriate.
Rehabilitation exercise
Hip hinge mechanics, glute and trunk strength, walking tolerance.
SoftWave therapy
May be used for certain soft tissue presentations when appropriate.
Custom foot orthotics
Considered when foot mechanics are contributing to lower body load.
What does an evaluation involve?
- 1Detailed history including work demands and past episodes
- 2Repeated-movement and loading tests to find the pain pattern
- 3Hip and sacroiliac screening, since both can mimic low back pain
- 4Neurological testing when leg symptoms are present
- 5A staged plan with checkpoints for reassessment
Low Back Pain questions Iowa City patients ask
What is the difference between back pain and low back pain?
Back pain is the general term for pain anywhere along the spine. Low back pain specifically means the lumbar region below the ribs and above the pelvis, which is where the majority of back complaints occur.
Why does my low back hurt more when I stand than when I sit?
Standing and backward bending load the small facet joints at the back of the spine, while sitting loads the discs more. Which position hurts is a useful clue during an evaluation.
Are core exercises good for low back pain?
Often, but the right exercise depends on your pain pattern. Some people do better starting with hip and glute strength and walking; generic crunches can aggravate certain disc presentations.
Low Back Pain: measured patient progress
Verified outcome data for this condition will appear here as it is confirmed by Total Health Chiropractic. Nothing is published until it is real.
Verified outcome data is being added.
This section will show measured before-and-after results from Total Health Chiropractic patients — condition, starting point, ending point, improvement and timeframe. We publish only verified data, so nothing is listed until it is confirmed.
Related topics
This page is general education, not medical advice. Care is provided by Total Health Chiropractic in Coralville, minutes from Iowa City. Reviewed by Dr. Dillon Hammes, DC.
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