That is not always an easy question to answer. In my Uptown Minneapolis Chiropractic and Acupuncture office, I treat all kinds of conditions, and we can’t always pinpoint one specific cause for pain.

Specific, significant events that cause injuries are called macrotraumas. For example, when someone is involved in a car accident and begins experiencing neck pain, we can say with a fair amount of certainty that the impact of the collision led to the pain.

However, many of my patients also experience pain that does not have a definite cause. Their condition may be due to the accumulation of many small injuries over a long period of time that eventually lead to pain. We call these small, chronic injuries microtraumas.

Microtraumas often happen to individuals that perform highly repetitive movements over relatively long periods of time. A classic example is typing on a computer keyboard. The repeated movements of the fingers on the keys and the constant extension of the wrists may not bother a person in small doses. But over the span of weeks or months, pain can begin to show up in the form of conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome.

Other activities that may produce microtraumas leading to pain include:

• Running/walking in poorly fitted shoes
• Long distance driving
• Improper sleep positions
• Drinking alcohol excessively or smoking

Through chiropractic, acupuncture and muscle work, we can do a lot to reduce pain caused by macrotraumas and microtraumas. And, for my treatment of microtrauma injuries, we will always include education on how best to reduce your repetitive stresses to prevent the reoccurence of pain.