I have lower back pain - what should I do?
No 1 priority… Dont panic! This can be sorted. Alot of people think that once they develop back pain they will never get rid of it. THIS IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE for the vast majority of our clients. There are a wide range of things we can do to sort out back pain or disc issues.
We use manual therapy, dry needling and exercise amongst other options to help you get on top of your back pain. All our physios love treating back pain patients, identifying your movement problems and why you developed your pain. We use a consistent clinical assessment to identify problems, remove pain and restore movement. Most importantly we want to get you back to those things you love to do.
You will get individualised treatment and individualised rehab to sort your problems and achieve your goals.
how back pain occurs
We get alot people into our Knocklyon & Sandyford physiotherapy clinics with back pain affecting their daily life. They are looking for back pain relief and wonder is back pain serious. Often they wonder can back pain be cured and how back pain happens. The most important thing for people to realise is that back pain on their right side or back pain on left side often means nothing except a slight issue that can be easily fixed. It is important to go to a back pain specialist to get checked and make sure that the back pain is not more serious.
How Back Pain affects Daily life
There are a variey of ways that it can affect daily life. people often report back pain bending over or pain shooting down their leg. These are common symptoms of back pain and sometimes are common with disc issues. Lower back pain can affect us in a variety of ways and it will be different for everyone.
People report things like “I can hardly walk” , “I can hardly move with back pain”, “I can barely walk”, “can barely move”, “I can not bend”, “Ive had back pain for months”, “Ive pain for no reason” “back pain for 6 months” and “back pain is ruining my life”. We have heard it all, so do not worry if this is you!!
The majority of the time we can relieve back pain symptoms with lower back pain exercises / lower back stretches and manual therapy will relieve the symptoms of low back pain.
Have i slipped a disc?
It also wouldn’t be uncommon for people to be told that they have slipped a disc in their lower back. The symptoms of a ‘slipped disc’ are widespread and varied but it is important to note….DISCS DONT SLIP!!! What happens is that a disc can protrude slightly and possibly impinge on a nerve. This is often the cause of a ‘slipped disc’ causing leg pain. People with pain radiating down their leg, or numbness down the leg can get symptom relief very quickly with physiotherapy treatment. Exercises for slipped disc vary depending on your issue and our Rathfarnham physiotherapy team & our Sandyford Physiotherapy team will be able to assess you and show you how to do this. But please remember you havent slipped a disc!!.
Recovery from this type of issue can be quite quick and often doesnt involve altering your lifestyle at all for any major length of time.
Traditionally low back pain treatment involved prolonged rest and avoidance of activity. More recent studies suggest that this actually leads to greater disability, greater pain ,and poorer recovery and longer time periods of dysfunction.
Back pain & Pregnancy
What back pain is normal in early pregnancy? This totally depends on your body, your baby and even can differ between weeks. There is no set time when back pain starts in pregnancy. However we do see alot of ladies in the first, second and third trimester with back pain and we adapt a symptom relief approach to dealing with it. We are well versed in dealing with back pain during pregnancy, with plenty of close personal experience on the issue with all our physios, male and female!
Back pain & things to look out for
People often worry about other things like cancer related back pain, kidney related back pain etc. It is important to get checked by a health care professional to ensure that this is not the cause of your lower back pain. It is important to realise that these cases are rare.
Evidence based Back pain relief
Current research encourages avoidance of painful activity initially but returning to normal activity as quickly as able, with activities such as bending, twisting, turning all encouraged as able. What we do know is most back pain will resolve once rehabilitated correctly. The use of exercise in this environment is key to returning back function. This includes both general exercise, such as walking/running etc and also more specific lumbopelvic (lower back/pelvic/abdominal) exercises. Our physiotherapists are experts in manual therapy, helping you alleviate pain and get back to function.
Fear of movement is often common post back injury and at SPARC we aim to return you to normal movement to allow you get on with everyday life, returning to sport and all things you want to do. The role of exercise in this process is absolutely key, and the long term benefits of exercise rehabilitation over other forms of treatment for lower back pain have been well documented.
And the best thing is… Exercise is FREE!!!
Benefits of Exercise
• Release of Endorphins.
• Improve mood, sleep, cardiovascular function, muscle strength, energy, aerobic and anaerobic capacity.
• Reduce stress, anxiety, fatigue, risk of some long term chronic illness such as heart conditions and diabetes.