Back pain is a huge topic that affects many people.

At one end of the spectrum, there are minor irritations such as a pulled muscle. At the other end, there are injuries that can threaten your ability to do even the most basic of tasks.

In all this chaos and noise, a simple overview can help.

Let us present three steps to beating back pain.

Step one: Know what’s wrong with you

Put simply, patients who know more, do better in beating their back pain. 

Regardless of the severity or longevity of an injury, it is vital that you know what’s going on. It will shape your behaviours, and give you a sense of ownership and investment.

What’s injured or irritated? How might it have happened? How long should it take to recover?

If you’ve seen a therapist who hasn’t yet explained what’s wrong with you, then you should ask the next time you see them. If they can’t explain it clearly, then you should perhaps be concerned! 

If they’ve been rushing through these conversations in order to get more “stuff” done to you, then that practitioner is a “fixer” and perhaps not engaged in getting you on board in your recovery. They may be brilliant at the things they do, but without you involved, it’s hard work for you and them! 

Step two: Find things that make you feel better

It sounds obvious, doesn’t it? 

You need to try things and find some that make you feel better, even temporarily. (Remember as well which ones make you feel worse!)

If anything can make you feel better, even temporarily, it’s good news and suggests that you’re going to beat back pain eventually.

It may be ice or heat that help, it might be medications such as ibuprofen or paracetamol. It could be walking, resting, stretching. Perhaps having someone do something to you - massage, manipulation, needling, traction - is what makes you feel better. This is good news too. Even if it’s not long-lasting, the fact that you feel some benefit is really positive. 

A word of warning: 

If you’ve not had any benefit within your first 1-4 sessions with a therapist, then it is the definition of insanity to keep doing the same thing over and over again and to expect a different result. 

In fact, if you don’t feel the benefit from anything you’ve tried, it suggests your condition is perhaps not a mechanical injury, and at this point, you should speak to your doctor. You need to tell them all the things you’ve tried and make it very clear that none of them have helped. This should prompt them to refer you to the right person.

Step three: Make a plan, and keep reviewing it

This is the harder one. To beat your back pain, you need to combine your knowledge of what is wrong, with your understanding of what helps you. And now you need to be a little more critical.

If going for treatment with a therapist gives you a few days of relief, that’s great news. It means your state of pain can be modulated, or changed. Don’t, however, fall into the trap of going back over and over again for the same treatment. 

You need to build on top of whatever you know makes you feel better. Now is the time to start working out what you can do to make the benefits last longer. This is where rehabilitation comes in. 

Not all rehabilitation is lifting weights in a gym. Rehabilitation is a guided return to better activity - quality and quantity. It makes you more resilient in the fight against your injury. 

If it’s a fight that we’re talking about, you need to know your enemy and have weapons ready. 

Adaptability will help you beat back pain

As the fight continues, you might need to change your tactics. Where ice was useful, you might now find that heat is better. Where medications were reducing your discomfort, you might now decide to go without since you have exercises that make you feel better. 

As you find yourself closing in on victory, you will find yourself using different weapons. If things take a turn for the worse, you can reach for the weapons you used earlier.  When you know how to use them, they are there forever.

This battle plan is yours, and yours alone. A good therapist can help you at every stage, as can BackPain.online.

Your understanding of what is happening, your experience of knowing what helps or hinders, and building your own plan is the key to beating back pain.

Education, advice, and rehabilitation.