Let’s face it, most people take an absence of back pain for granted. It’s only when pain starts to develop that they notice how it impacts them! 

All too often, patients come to the clinic promising that they will never again make fun of anyone else who complains of back pain. 

We also see vicious circles: People want to live healthy, active lives, but back pain stops them, and also prevents them from taking action to manage that pain.

Severe back pain can be terrible and develop into a disability. It can take over lives. It’s therefore vitally important to address back pain early and to avoid it getting to that stage!

So what does lower back pain indicate?

On its own, not much.

There are many different causes of lower back pain. Some are serious, and some are trivial. In all the chaos, it’s really important that people seek advice from qualified experts.

• Getting reassurance that you have a trivial issue can be hugely beneficial
• On the other hand, knowing that back pain might be more serious will help people take action sooner rather than later

Many cases of lower back pain settle in a few days, while others might be more prolonged. 

Addressing lower back pain

Understanding what sort of injury a patient has is massively important - especially for the patient! There are instances of lower back pain that have nothing to do with the machinery of the back, and these must get referred to the right specialist for effective treatment immediately. 

In contrast, some other back pain conditions are harmless, but are slow to heal. Patients need to know this so their expectations are met. Conditions that persist for a long time like this can be helped with specialist treatment, and by the patient themselves, by applying these three steps to managing back pain.

Common mistakes people make in everyday life that can easily cause back pain

If we’re going to look at one big cause of back pain, it’s moving in multiple directions at once. Our bodies are pretty good at bending forwards and backwards, and we’re also good at bending side to side, as well as rotate nicely.

It’s when people try to combine these movements, like bending forwards while also leaning to the side and rotating a little, that the likelihood of injury goes up. Add load to this, like lifting or pushing, and the chance of injury goes up a little further. It might be a one-off like losing your balance momentarily while carrying a heavy shopping bag, but it might be a repetitive movement performed multiple times a day causing fatigue and eventually an injury.

Having said all this, it’s really important that we don’t make people hyper-vigilant about their movements. We absolutely mustn’t scare people from doing what they want or need to do because they will most likely do everything without any back pain.

Are our backs fragile?

We really need to dispel the notion that our backs are fragile. They simply are not.

Our backs are made of strong, chunky bones, with dense ligaments and strong muscles that limit and control their movement. Although they can become very sensitive to even a slight injury or irritation, this is only a reflection of how important they are to how we move.

So let’s teach everyone to forget that phrase “my back feels fragile” and use “my back is a little sensitive today” instead. It can really help to teach people to reappraise their back health, and start to de-threaten their experiences.

Is lower back pain a permanent case?

Definitely not!

Most cases of back pain settle very well with little or no intervention.

The job of manual therapists like those at BackPain.online is to speed up the healing process where possible, teach patients how to help their own recovery, and also to spot the more serious cases that require other intervention.

Even when patients feel they are suffering constantly we can usually find tactics that make them feel better, even if only for a short period. In these cases, it is then up to the patient to integrate these helpful tactics into a larger strategy. They most likely need to accept that their back pain fluctuates, and we must inform them that this is normal, and nothing to worry about. 

As a wise person once said, “Go find time for health, or you’ll have to find some for disease”.