Chronic Back Pain can put a pause on your life – but it doesn’t have to. Use our 5 Back Pain Steps to get back to your life!
Chronic Back Pain
Chronic Back Pain can be extremely debilitating and cause a range of secondary issues if left untreated. Low Back Pain is the 5th most common cause for physician/GP visits – and is approximated to affect 60-80% of people at one point of another in their life. So, it’s important have a few tricks up your sleeve to prevent or better manage Back Pain (M; C.V.E.S.G.D.A.M.V, 2022).
Listed below we have 5 Steps (or click here to view now) you can take TODAY to reduce your risk of developing back pain, and better manage it if you’re already experiencing back pain.
First thing’s first with your back pain
If you have any of the below symptoms associated with your back pain – you need to book an appointment with your GP immediately:
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- Numbness or tingling around your buttocks, groin and genitals
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- Severe unrelenting pain at rest or at night (10/10 back pain that doesn’t respond to relieving postures or medication at all – particularly alarming this occurs at night when you are at rest)
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- Personal history of cancer in the back, especially in the region of your pain
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- You’ve noticed that you can’t move your toes, feet or legs the same as usual, this is particularly concerning if this is getting worse and worse
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- Bilateral (down both sides) sciatica travelling down both legs
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- Fever associated with back pain
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- Loss or gain of 2kg or more in 2 days with onset of back pain
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- Current or recent loss of bowl or bladder function (if current immediately present to the ER of your local Hospital)
It’s important to go through this checklist, and rule them out before commencing conservative treatment (Physio or Exercise Physiology) – testing negative to the above checklist is a prerequisite to treatment as it rules out the presence of a “serious underlying pathology”. This is fancy term to conditions needing medical review and consideration for surgery.
Approximately 95% of back pain cases require medical attention as such, but it is important to consider the above symptoms, to determine the best course of treatment.
Once you’ve completed this back pain check list – let’s talk about solutions
Back is multifactorial, and so finding only one cause can be challenging. Chronic Back Pain is now considered a symptom or consequence of a range of multifactorial lifestyle behaviours. The good news is we know what increases the risk of back pain, and we know how to manage it!
This educational tool is designed to provide with some easy tools to better manage your pain, so we won’t delve into the complexities & causes of back pain – if you’d like some more information, we encourage you to get in touch with your relevant health professional or our team and we can provide you with some additional information.
5 Steps to Reduce Your Back Pain
Please only perform each of the above movements within tolerable ranges of motion, chronic back pain requires a graded approach, this means to increase the intensity, load, or range of motion incrementally and as tolerated without large & unexpected jumps. Get your toes wet before diving in the deep end!
Research has shown that combining the above 5 Steps is an effective way to manage back pain, and we hope this article has been helpful to you!
However, back pain can present with a wide range of clinical characteristics with every person having a different lifestyle and body, it’s unrealistic to provide specified treatment for each individual without performing an assessment.
For this reason, if your back pain is causing symptoms of depression, anxiety or is stopping you from compete day to day tasks, we recommend you book an appointment with your relevant pain professional for optimal rehab and pain management (Accredited Exercise Physiologist Brisbane or Physiotherapist).
***Please note: The above educational content is designed for general use and is not intended as specific clinical recommendation and should not be used as a substitute for treatment. Treatment and/or any form of intervention relies on specific clinical assessment by relevant experts. If you are your seeking specific advice for your condition, we recommend booking an appointment with the appropriate healthcare professional (Accredited Exercise Physiologist or Physiotherapist). If you have any of the symptoms measured above in the red flag section please consult your General Practitioner***
Sources
M;, C.V.E.S.G.D.A.M.V. (2022) Back pain, National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30844200/ (Accessed: December 10, 2022).