Back Pain

The overwhelming majority of back pain is due to postural overload. Whilst sitting at a desk may be the first cause that comes to mind, it may also come about from the repetitive strains of manual labour and sporting activities. The muscles, ligaments, nerves and joints of the spine are subject to huge mechanical forces throughout the day. It’s possible your pain may have come about through repetitive strain over a long period of time.

Understanding how you came to injure your back is vital in making a sound recovery. Our experienced practitioners are highly trained and have the necessary skills to address all of the potential contributors to back pain. Most importantly, we educate you about your condition so that you might understand how to prevent future occurrences.

What should I do if I have back pain?

If you’ve just hurt your back, and you’d describe it as “really bad”, there are three things you should do straight away:

1. Rest – this means avoid the activity or movement that caused your back pain. Also, because your back is in a worse state, it needs time to heal. Take frequent periods of rest lying face down on the floor with your head turned to one side. This will allow the lower back to rest in a safe position where the muscles can relax on their own accord.

2. Walk – Your body craves movement and whilst some movements will aggravate your condition, most people report that walking relieves their low back pain somewhat. This moderate amount of movement will ensure enough nutrients is delivered to your intervertebral discs [IVDs]. The IVDs serve an extremely important biomechanical function to your spine. As they do not have a blood supply, nutrients must be delivered by osmosis through the activity of the surrounding muscles.

3. Do not bend – bending is an extremely important movement that all spines should be capable of performing pain free. However, low back pain is commonly an injury to the posterior part of the spine. Thus, forward bending movements tend to aggravate low back pain complaints. If you’ve ever cut your finger across the joint line, you’ll know that bending it causes the wound to split open even further. Naturally, you’ll keep your finger relatively extended until the wound heals. At this point, you can start bending your finger again to strengthen the new tissue in the direction that it needs to maintain tensile strength. The same applies to the treatment of low back pain, forward bending is an important part of rehabilitation, but there’s a time factor to respect before doing this.