What To Do About Back Pain
Low back pain is believed to affect the lives of one in seven to one in four Australians at any time (1,2). The first thing to know, is that is most incidences your episode of low back pain will resolve. It is thought about 10-40% of adults experiencing an episode of sudden back pain go on to experience ongoing persistent and disabling symptoms (3,4). But what can you do about back pain? How will we at Physiologix, help you to manage your low back pain?
What to do about back pain: first understand what’s happening.
When you experience low back pain, your pain could originate in the low back itself, into the buttocks, or into other areas of the pelvis and lower legs. It might be that you experience pins and needles or numbness. And you may also experience weakness in certain muscles of the legs. Your muscles may be often very tight, known as muscle spasm. This is a reaction of your body to the back injury to protect the area, in a way self-bracing.
Your movement will usually be restricted and your ability to do normal, everyday activities can be difficult or impossible. Sleep may well also be affected.
What to do about back pain
Understanding what is happening with your back will already help you. Not knowing, worrying and fear of what is happening is not going to help! Here are some of the key things you can do to help yourself.
Medication for back pain
If the pain is severe then medication can be extremely useful. This will help relax your muscle spasm. Consult with your GP to find out which medication would be best.
Imaging for back pain
Imaging is often not indicated initially. Most people (25% of non-symptomatic under 25 year-olds)(5) will show changes on MRI and many people on x-ray. Given so many people have changes on imaging and yet are pain free, imaging for the majority of people is often not very useful. In fact, it might reveal a whole lot of normal degenerative changes that you find with aging, that people then get very scared and worried about. This in turn can potentially feed into long term pain issues and cause people to avoid a lot of things that would actually be ok, all due to fear of hurting themselves.
Heat/ice
Heat, and in less frequent cases, ice or a cold pack can be useful for pain relief. Gentle movement is essential. Exercises that we prescribe will depend on your injury and restrictions. There are a whole range of fantastic back mobility exercises to try. Walking short distances can be useful. Moving in a pool can be wonderful (as long as it’s not too cold!). As Physios we will educate you about what types of movement activity are best and how much to do.
Physio treatment for back pain
Physio treatment will focus primarily on advice and education about what is going on and what is the best way to get you on the road to recovery. Hands on treatment that we, as your back pain physio, will use may include:
Massage and other soft tissue techniques
Dry needling
Joint mobilisation techniques
Taping/bracing are another aspect of physio treatment for back pain that can be fantastic in the initial stages.
Other key things to help back pain
The research also outlines other key aspects of recovery that are essential. Sleep and stress management are very important in helping in the management of your back pain. As Physios, we will advise you about the best postures for sleeping, but again medication can be very helpful. Good sleep is essential for healing and to manage coping with your pain. Stress management helps to keep your muscles relaxed rather than feeding into an already very overactive pain protective muscle system. As Physios we will again help you find ways to do this. Meditation can be a wonderful way to start with your relaxation. There are millions of app’s now on the market you might want to try, for example, “Head Space” https://www.headspace.com and “Calm” https://www.calm.com
Pilates for back pain
Pilates is a fantastic way of getting fit, strong, and flexible, and in turn helping maintain your health and looking after your back. At Physiologix we run clinical Pilates for back pain. Our classes are on Pilates equipment, our instructors are all highly trained, and your program is overseen by a physio and totally individualised for you. Being stronger and fitter allows you to do tasks without injuring yourself that previously you might have struggled with. Extreme care must be taken while doing Pilates with back pain. Overdoing strength work may actually feed into your pain, not helping it. We will help you understand what types of movement and exercise are best.
There is so much you can do for back pain
There is so much you can do to help yourself if you have back pain. Get in touch and book an appointment with one of our extremely experienced Physios. No matter your age, injury, sports involvement, or lack of activity, we are here to help get you back on track.
Call us on (07)3511 1112, email us at admin@physiologix.com.au or book an appointment by clicking on the “Book Appointment” box at the top right of our website page.
References
- Bardin LD, King P, Maher CG. Diagnostic triage for low back pain: A practical approach for primary care. Med J Aust 2017;206(6):268–73. Search PubMed
- Walker BF. The prevalence of low back pain in Australian adults. A systematic review of the literature from 1966–1998. Asia Pac J Public Health 1999;11(1):45–51. Search PubMed
- Dillingham T. Evaluation and management of low back pain: An overview. State Art Review 1995;9:559–74. Search PubMed
- Maher C, Underwood M, Buchinder R. Non-specific low back pain. Lancet 2017;389(10070):736–47. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30970-9. Search PubMed
- W. Brinjikji et al, Systematic Literature Review of Imaging Features of Spinal Degeneration in Asymptomatic Populations. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2015 Apr; 36(4): 811–816. Search here.
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