Lower back pain treatment is one of the the most common things that we as Physiotherapists do on a daily basis. Most commonly for women low back pain starts after pregnancy. For others, it may be due to prolonged sitting or lifting at work or also sometimes due to accidents. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics 2017–18 National Health estimate about 4.0 million Australians (16% of the population) have back problems. It is estimated that 70–90% of people will suffer from lower back pain in some form at some point in their lives. And we treat people at all these different stages!
So it surprises me when some of our patients have seen their GP’s for years but they haven’t been told to have Physiotherapy. It saddens me in fact because if we could only provide lower back pain treatment as soon as pain started, we would be able to prevent it from becoming chronic. And people wouldn’t have to live with chronic back pain for so long! Remember, pain is a sign that something’s not right in your body. So the sooner you get started with lower back pain treatment, the better. We are experts in lower back pain treatment and here’s how we help:
Joint mobilizations are an integral part of our lower back pain treatment program
To me it’s quite impossible to do lower back treatment without actually going to the root cause of the pain. And most of the times, it’s the swelling or inflammation in the joints and discs that is causing pain. Circulation is slowed down in the area which makes it stiff and sore. This is exactly why you feel stiff getting out of the bed in the mornings or getting up after you’ve been sitting for a while. By literally getting movement into your joints, we help to increase the circulation through the area and reduce inflammation. Thereby giving you pain relief. Our physiotherapists do a complete assessment of your injury to know exactly which levels of your back are causing pain. So they can target the lower back pain treatment to that area.
Releasing muscle tension is also an important part of our lower back pain treatment program
The muscles tend to tighten up around inflamed areas because they’re simply trying to protect it from further injury. It’s the normal mechanism of our bodies to protect the injured area. This is why you feel sharp pains or spasms when you’re attempting to do certain movements. Our physiotherapists understand this perfectly and aim to reduce the muscle tension with specialized techniques as part of our lower back treatment program. You may have heard of deep tissue massage or trigger point therapy. These are effective techniques to reduce muscle tension.
You can’t get away from doing core strengthening exercises to prevent long term issues!
The only way you’re going to prevent future issues, let me repeat THE ONLY WAY, is by doing core strengthening exercises and following ergonomic advice as part of your lower back pain treatment. This is especially true for women post pregnancy to strengthen up their tummy and pelvic floor muscles. A lot of people think a particular treatment hasn’t worked for them. But the truth is that very few actually follow the do’s and don’ts long term! You give up working for something once you’ve achieved it. Human nature I guess? So it’s just so important to keep doing exercises to challenge your body in different ways and still follow the correct lifting and sitting postures to prevent this issue from coming back.
The first step is definitely pain relief so you can start your journey to recovery.