The most common issue that we see in the clinic is back pain. It can significantly impact your daily life and spoil the enjoyment of any hobbies you wish to pursue. At Rehab 360 Physiotherapy, we hope to help you understand your back pain as well as have strategies in-place to ensure it doesn’t stop you from doing what you love.
Common causes of back pain:
- Sedentary Lifestyle: Posture has got a bit of a bad rep over the years, even though the evidence behind ‘poor posture’ causing back pain isn’t that strong. Instead, having a sedentary lifestyle or job can result in you being in the same posture, with little movement breaks, for too long. This is a common cause of back discomfort.
- Muscle Weakness: When certain muscle groups are overworked, whilst others aren’t doing enough, this can lead to discomfort and pain in specific areas of your back. This is usually when people mistake their symptoms from the actual cause of their pain, and can often lead some professionals heading in the wrong direction when it comes to treatment plans.
- Injuries: Sprains, strains, or more severe conditions like fractures can often result in pain and limited mobility.
- Stress: There is now a large amount of good-quality evidence which shows emotional stress can manifest physically, causing mechanical back pain. This is why we take a 360-degree approach to your issue at Rehab 360 Physiotherapy, delving deeper into your story to understand what may be causing your pain.
- Herniated Discs: Whilst disc herniations are a normal part of age-related changes we expect to observe in the spine, and are most often not the cause of your pain or anything to worry about, they can at times be the main culprit. If a disc herniation is compressing a nearby nerve root, this can regularly lead to what we refer to as radicular pain. The most common form of radiculopathy occurs in the lower back and is known by many as ‘sciatica’.
How Rehab 360 Physiotherapy Can Help
At Rehab 360 Physiotherapy, our approach to helping diagnose and manage your back pain comes down to understanding your needs and providing a personalised pathway to recovery. However, there are strategies that you can do at home to help in the meantime:
- Heat/Ice Therapy: This can be beneficial in helping manage pain and can be particularly beneficial prior to bedtime in order to get a good night’s sleep, massively important for recovery!
- Analgesia: Some people feel proud not take take over-the-counter pain relief when they are in pain, fighting back the urge instead. However, it is much better to take pain relief and allow yourself to keep moving and active rather than persist in not taking it and end up moving less.
- Movement: The motion is the lotion! Keeping moving is one of, if not the, most important strategies when you experience back pain. You may often hear clinicians talk about “preferential directions”, and this basically means you must continue to perform any movement you can tolerate and feel comfortable doing. Bed rest is strictly forbidden!
When Should You Get Help For Back Pain
You should consult a physiotherapist if you experience:
- Persistent pain lasting more than a few weeks
- Pain that becomes worse with movement or activities you cannot avoid
- Limited mobility or stiffness in your back is preventing you from working or doing daily necessities
- Pain that radiates down your legs or is accompanied by tingling, numbness, or weakness
Benefits of Physiotherapy for Back Pain
- Improved mobility
- Reduce pain
- Enhance strength
- Improve confidence
Contact us today and let us get to the root cause of your persistent back pain!