What Most Low Back Pain Treatments Are Missing
Low back pain is one of, if not the most, common musculoskeletal injuries in the world. If you yourself have never had or have gotten treatment for low back pain, you probably know someone who has.
As physical therapists, we help many people recover from acute and chronic episodes of low back pain and will commonly hear of previous attempts at addressing this pain failing to incorporate this one extremely important intervention.
It’s not massages, it’s not adjustments, it’s not a magic pill…its STRENGTHENING.
For some reason, many healthcare providers significantly underdose therapeutic exercises aimed at addressing low back pain. When someone comes to PT with shoulder pain, we strengthen the rotator cuff and shoulder blade muscles. When they complain of knee pain, we strengthen their quadriceps. But, when they complain of back pain, they’re often prescribed simple core bracing and stomach squeezing exercises. If you’ve ever had PT for back pain, you likely know what we’re talking about here.
The lower back is not a fragile column of bones and discs that need to be protected and shielded from the forces generated by everyday life and exercise. It is a strong, durable, and resilient part of our body that can adapt to the stresses we place upon it.
Just like any other body part, when we gradually introduce stress to the lower back, it builds a tolerance to this stress. The more we progress this stress over time, the more the lower back can tolerate.
This means that you can lift, carry, push and pull heavier objects without pain while having a much lower risk of sustaining an injury.
If you have pain with lifting things, then your physical therapy should work towards training your ability to lift things…sounds simple but we see a lot of patients that have never gone through anything close to this in their previous attempts to have this pain resolved.
As an athlete, if you want to get better at something, you practice it tirelessly until your skills improve.
The same goes when trying to make a specific movement not hurt anymore. Once the pain is resolved with lower intensity pain relieving interventions, you must then work towards that aggravating movement and train it further, so it no longer causes pain.
If most of your treatments for low back pain include you; taking medications, lying on a table having someone work on you, sitting on a heat pack, ice pack or stim machine and constantly doing the same simple stretches…you’re probably not going to see long term results.
At some point, you should be working on lifting and moving weighted objects.
If this sounds all too familiar and you’re ready to give something another try, click the button below to schedule a free phone consultation and see how our approach to resolving your low back pain is different!