To Help Your Back Pain, Stop Looking At Your Back
It’s not all about the back
We see people every week at Midlands Physio and Back Pain Clinic looking for help with back pain. It’s fair to say that pretty much all of these people will have already tried something to help their back pain before coming to see us.
They could have been to see a doctor, another therapist, tried yoga, pilates, stretches, muscle rubs, heat packs,you name it. Simply Google back pain relief and you will see the many different options that will appear offering a solution.
However , not all of these will work and one of the big misconceptions that people have about back pain is that it is all about their back. They believe that they must have a worn disc, a disc bulge, a trapped nerve, a weak back, something out of place that is the cause of their back pain.
Basically, problems that all stem from their back. And it’s understandable. Why wouldn’t they think it, when that is where they feel the pain, that is what they have been told by their MRI, by their GP, chiropractor, physio, family, friends and just about everybody else that they meet.
However, I have some important news for you.
It is not all about the back and in a lot of cases the back can be the victim. It can often be doing a really good job for you by working harder than it needs to, making up for a weakness, imbalance or lack of movement somewhere else in your body.
Now I realise that this may be hard to grasp, especially if you have been going to your chiropractor or physio for years, have had some treatment done and walked away feeling great…. The only problem is that this relief might last a few days, or weeks and when you least expect it the pain can return.
Now by all means you can injure your back and damage a disc, you can strain a muscle or sprain one of the many ligaments that connect to your spine. This usually happens if you over exert yourself or move awkwardly. But the thing to know is that those structures are more than capable of healing by themselves.
It is when this back pain continues to occur, even though the tissues have healed, that most people have problems with. To find out why this happens we need to look at the other areas of the body. This also includes looking at lifestyle habits such as sleep, diet, exercise, stress management as well as your psychological factors such as your thoughts, mood and beliefs.
Over the coming weeks I’ll discuss how these can influence back pain and give you an insight into how we help people with back pain at Midlands Physio & Back Pain Clinic.
Be sure to keep tuned over the coming weeks.
