Most people will experience low back pain in their lifetime. According to data published by the Medical Journal of Australia, 8 out of 10 adults will suffer from back pain. The pain may be there for a few days and then be gone. Over time the back pain may get more and more debilitating and last longer until it is constantly limiting your work and free time.
So many times we hear, “it’s just old age” and yet we help patients of all ages experience great relief from their pain. Patient may have been told it is arthritis, osteoporosis or “a back spasm” and it may not always be the case. Arthritis (osteoarthritis) in your spine does not always mean that you have to have low back pain or that it can not be treated successfully.
Generally X-Rays or bone density scans have very little diagnostic value in determining the cause of your lower back pain.
Osteoporosis is generally a pain free condition unless you have a fracture. If you have osteoporosis you can still receive gentle chiropractic care as long as your practitioner takes the necessary precautionary measures prior to treating you.
At Focal Allied Health, it isn’t just spinal manipulation and mobilisation that we use for lower back pain. We can also use soft tissue work and rehabilitation as part of our spinal care, and we successfully treat many muscular conditions in addition to back injuries.
There are a number of assessments and tests we can perform to reach an accurate diagnosis. When we know what your diagnosis is, and what is causing the low back pain, we aim to do a holistic assessment to find out what caused the injury to happen in the first place.
Some structures that commonly may give you low back pain are:
- Sacroiliac joints
- Facet joints in the spine
- Intervertebral discs (“bulging discs”)
- Spinal nerve irritation
- Spinal muscles
In the initial stages of treatment will focus on pain relief and correcting the painful condition. In later stages we focus on strengthening of the tissues and correcting the underlying cause with lifestyle modification, corrective exercise and body alignment.
Some causes of low back pain may be:
- Prolonged sitting
- Inactivity
- Abnormal loading / poor lifting technique / overuse
- Poor core strength and control
- Lower limb movement restrictions
- Thoracic stiffness
- Trauma (whiplash injuries often affect the thoracic spine or lower back)
- Poor posture
At Focal Allied Health we provide expert diagnosis and expert treatment of both acute and chronic lower back pain.
Give us a call today on 03 9034 7735 to see how we can help you with your lower back pain, or click here to Book Online.