We all experience back pain at some point in time. The pain may occur suddenly and be gone within a couple of days or weeks, or it may occur repeatedly, never completely going away. Whether it is intermittent or ongoing, back pain can have a major impact on your regular daily activities. Fortunately, physiotherapy helps reduce discomfort and pain, both during an episode, and in the long term by lessening future back troubles.
The most important aspect of the physiotherapy approach to treating low back pain is a thorough assessment of the history of episodes, of how your spine moves, and of your strength and sensation.
Education is a key physiotherapy strategy in helping people experiencing back pain. Your physiotherapist will explain the structure and function of your low back in an understandable way, helping you to sort out what activities or postures may be triggering your pain. It is important to understand that your spine is a complex system of bones and discs connected by joints and ligaments, with many layers of muscles that all help to provide both movement and stability.
Back pain can be the result of poor postures causing strain on soft tissues like muscles, joint ligaments, and nerves. Poor posture can also stress the discs in the low back. Injuries to the structures of the back can occur due to lifting or doing repetitive activities with poor posture or weak muscles. Arthritic changes in the spinal joints are another potential cause of back pain.
Your physiotherapist will zero in on which areas are causing your pain and provide you with appropriate advice to limit the stresses on the structures of your spine. Your physiotherapist will also provide treatments to help the healing if tissues are injured and to reduce the pain you are experiencing. Once pain is reduced, and you can get back to normal activities, they will provide you with strategies to prevent recurrences and manage pain if it does return. Physio can help! The physiotherapists at Best Health Physiotherapy have decades of experience helping people with low back pain. We look forward to helping you recover faster from your lower back distress.