Back pain is very common. Up to 80% of people have back pain at some point in their life. Serious damage due to back pain is rare. Apparently, it is still one of the most expensive and poorly managed health care disorders. How do you manage the back pain can reduce the suffering that comes along with it.
Acute back pain can give a frightening experience. In most cases, acute pain is due to simple tissue strain. If managed well right from early period the pain will settle quickly. Most back pain get better within 3 months with right management.
The major function of the spine is its design for movements. In some cases, symptom lasts beyond the period of healing (15%). There are many factors contribute to this pain experience. There is evidence suggests that only 10% of persistent back pain is due to structural injury. This means that the structural injury such as disc bulges, degenerative disc as shown in MRI scan does not show any correlation to the symptoms.
The other contributing factors to back pain are;
Lack of movement from your spine
Fear of movements - avoiding movements can actually increase the risk of re-injury
Poor strength and conditioning of different muscle groups (such as your thigh, hip muscle groups) can result in abnormal movement patterns which in return could increase more back pain
More importantly the lifestyle factors including poor sleep pattern, lack of physical activities, low mood and stress could play a vital role on back pain (Evidence suggests people who is going through stress and anxiety could have x 2.5 times more chance of developing back pain)
Nervous system modulation due to persistent pain - such as things that should not hurt do (a simple touch could provoke pain in the sensitive area of problem)
The burden of low back pain can be reduced if treatment is aligned with evidence. The evidence supports a patient-centred approach to low back pain. Thanks to the groundbreaking research evidence of Professor Peter O'Sullivan from Western Australia whose masterpiece work Classification based Cognitive Functional Therapy is used to identify the underlying driving mechanism of back pain and disability. This approach is a very functional approach to solve the back pain by seriously considering your needs into account.
At Relive Physiotherapy, our physiotherapists are highly skilled in using evidence based assessment, diagnostic and treatment strategies tailored to best manage your problem.
