When you’re dealing with consistent low back pain, lasting for three moths or more, it can be challenging without knowing a single, identifiable cause. The most common causes of chronic back pain seen in the PT clinic comes from a couple things you may not expect. The ambiguity makes treatment that much more questionable. Knowing the cause of your pain is pivotal, but can drive your decision in treatment options. Whether it is led by physical therapy, injections, mindfulness, or other means, navigating the complexity of the spine can seem daunting. Multiple contributing factors can add layers of challenges to finding an effective pain relief strategy. This blog post will address a few things to look out for when it comes to your back pain, different treatment options, and easy ways to start your chronic low back pain relief journey.
**This is not medical advice. Please consult your medical provider for more information.
What Are Common Causes of Low Back Pain?
In order to find the right approach for pain relief treatment, you have to find the cause of your back pain. This could be why some treatment styles of not worked for you in the past. If the treatment you are participating in does not address the cause of your pain, then you typically won’t find pain relief.
Here are some common causes of low back pain:
Repetitive Movements
Pay attention to your movement patterns. Do you tend to do certain things the same way over and over again? For example, if you have back pain when reaching to grab things from the ground, are you always reaching with the same hand? Do you have a job that requires you to perform a repetitive task that often leads to pain afterwards? Paying attention to frequent movement patterns can give you a clue as to what may be leading to your low back pain.
Poor Posture
Posture can be a big clue as to what areas need to be addressed when looking into low back pain. Posture refers to both seated and standing posture. If you notice your back pain always happens when you’re sitting for a long time or when you’re standing while washing the dishes, there is usually something that needs to be addressed while doing these tasks.
Overuse
Overuse can flow hand-in-hand with repetitive movements. If you continue to use the same muscle or muscle groups repeatedly, it can lead to overuse injuries. Overuse injuries can happen slowly over time or more quickly, as seen with the “weekend warriors.”
The Importance of a Multifaceted Approach for Low Back Pain
When you’re navigating the complex world of chronic back pain, it’s essential to explore every possible avenue for relief before turning to the operating table. Starting with physical therapy is a good place to start. Exercises are tailored to your specific needs and can strengthen the back and surrounding muscles, potentially reducing the pain without the need for more invasive measures.
Yet, the approach doesn’t stop there. Incorporating mindfulness practices can significantly alter your perception of pain, transforming how you manage daily flare-ups. Some individuals can make small changes to their diet to avoid inflammatory foods, such as those high in refined sugars and processed ingredients. This can help reduce inflammation and, by extension, pain sensation.
Before considering surgical options, it’s worthwhile to explore these conservative treatments thoroughly. By adopting a holistic approach that considers physical therapy, exercise for back pain, mindfulness, and diet adjustments, you’re not just treating the symptoms but addressing the root causes of your back pain. Only when all options fail should surgical intervention be considered.
Physical Therapy: The First Line of Defense
Physical therapy aims to give you the right support, strength, and mobility to all areas of the body that can affect the low back. Through targeted exercises and designed home exercise programs, you’re not just working towards alleviating symptoms; you’re fundamentally strengthening the very core that supports you.
Physical therapy offers healing guided by movement, strength and expertise. By determining the patterns in how you move, go about your every day life, and what recreates your pain, a structured plan will be created by your physical therapist, specifically for you. Each treatment plan is individually tailored for you to get you to pain relief as quickly as possible.
The main goal of physical therapy, aside from pain relief, is to make sure you are functional and returning to all of your daily needs and activities. Your pain could go away, but if performing daily tasks has not been addressed, you may still be limited in what you are able to do or participate in. Physical therapy aims to not only relieve the pain, but make sure you can do all that you need to, and want, to do.
How Physical Therapists Can Treat Consistent Low Back Pain
Address Poor Posture
Back discomfort can pop up when sitting or standing for long periods of time. Your body may be in a postural stance that is placing increased stress to your back. If this is the case, fixing your posture may be your best option to reduce your consistent low back pain!
Imagine that you are pulling on a rubber band and you’re holding it in a stretched position. Now imagine this happening to some of your muscles if you are sitting in a bad position for a long period of time. Over time, this low tensile stress adds up and eventually can cause pain. To address your posture, we need to put you in a different position – an optimal position – to reduce the added stress going to your back.
Teach Proper Body Mechanics
Are you someone who bends forward from your back to grab something from the ground? This may be placing too much stress on your back, either causing pain or eventually leading up to it. Teaching proper body mechanics is one of the best tools for preventative care. Why? Because not only can it often fix people’s pain on the spot, but it can also prevent the discomfort from coming back.
The reason this is so important is because it teaches how to use the larger and stronger muscle groups of the body and keeping joints in proper alignment to get the body to work at optimal levels. Essentially, you are able to do more with what feels like a lot less effort. And a lot less pain.
Strengthen the Core
Think of your core as your inner back brace. It provides extra support to your low back. Increasing your core strength will help provide the extra support your back needs to stand and sit for long periods of time, perform repetitive movements, and lift objects with less pain. Head here to help strengthen your core.
Other Articles Related to Low Back Pain
- Low Back Pain Upon Waking Up? Try These 3 Things!
- Quadratus Lumborum: Stretches and Exercises to Relieve Back Pain
- Core Strengthening Exercises to Reduce Back Pain
Mindfulness and Its Role in Pain Management for Low Back Pain
When you are working on managing chronic back pain, turning towards mindfulness might not be the first tool that comes to mind. Yet, it’s remarkable how much the way you engage with your thoughts and emotions can influence your perception of pain.
Pain is your body’s defense mechanism. It’s job is to alert you that something is going on. By activating your parasympathetic nervous system, you can help your mind and body slow down. This is your “calming” system. This is your “reset,” which can help reduce pain. By activating your parasympathetic nervous system, you can lower your heart rate and blood pressure and reduce the tension throughout your body.
Mindfulness practices cultivate awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment. This approach can help manage back pain by significantly reducing the stress that often exacerbates pain symptoms. Mindfulness practices are what stimulate our parasympathetic nervous system.
Stress and pain are intertwined in such a way that lowering your stress levels through mindfulness can lead to perceived improvements in pain. By focusing on the present, rather than worrying about the future or ruminating on the past, you’re equipping yourself with a powerful tool for pain management, empowering you to live a fuller life despite the pain.
Some mindfulness practices to try are:
- walking
- yoga
- diaphragmatic breathing
- reading a book
- listening to music
- getting out in nature
- vagus nerve stimulation
Dietary Changes to Combat Inflammation
When we consider the impact of diet on chronic back pain, it’s essential to understand how certain foods contribute to inflammation. Diets high in inflammatory compounds, such as refined sugars and processed foods, can exacerbate back pain by promoting inflammation throughout the body.
If you’re grappling with persistent discomfort, examining your dietary habits might reveal some unexpected culprits behind your pain. By shifting towards a diet that minimizes the intake of these inflammatory elements, this may help in alleviating your back pain. Incorporating anti-inflammatory foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, can significantly reduce the inflammatory response and, consequently, your pain.
Making dietary changes is not just about avoiding specific foods; it’s about embracing a lifestyle that supports your overall health and well-being. Consultation with a nutrition specialist can provide personalized advice, helping you to develop eating habits that support your health goals and combat inflammation.
Injection Treatment for Chronic Low Back Pain
When you’ve tried everything from physical therapy to mindfulness, yet chronic back pain remains persistent, it might be time to consider injection-based treatments. For those living with relentless pain, especially with conditions like spinal stenosis, these treatments can offer pain relief. This is a targeted approach that delivers an injection to significantly reduce inflammation and provide relief. If physical therapy has been difficult up until this point due to significant pain, an injection can be helpful with reducing pain and inflammation, allowing you to be more involved in physical therapy participation.
Yet, as with any treatment, it’s crucial to weigh the benefits against the possible risks. Engaging in a thorough conversation with healthcare professionals is essential to ensure that this avenue aligns with your overall pain management strategy and if this is an option for you. For some, injections very well be the key that unlocks a more comfortable, active lifestyle.
Considerations for Surgery
When exploring treatments for consistent low back discomfort, surgery often emerges as a contested option. Delving into the world of surgical solutions requires a careful consideration of both the complexities and potential risks involved. Surgical options are typically tabled as a last resort, unless otherwise determined by your surgeon.
Surgery usually occurs only after conservative treatments—ranging from physical therapy to mindfulness, diet changes, and injections—have been thoroughly explored. In cases where structural abnormalities exert undue pressure on the spine or contribute to debilitating pain, surgery may present a viable pathway to relief. However, the prospect of surgery carries with it the weight of potential complications and the angst of an uncertain outcome. Even with advancements in spinal healthcare, there remains a significant portion of patients who experience minimal pain relief or, worse, an exacerbation of symptoms post-surgery.
In light of these considerations, individuals navigating the complexities of chronic back pain management are urged to engage in comprehensive dialogues with their healthcare providers. Together, they can weigh the benefits against the risks, ensuring that any move towards surgical intervention is both judicious and informed, with a clear focus on enhancing quality of life.
Navigating Treatment Choices
When you’re grappling with chronic back pain, the path towards relief might feel like a maze. Engage in open conversations with your healthcare team to explore the full spectrum of treatment options. From physical therapy to mindfulness practices aimed at stress reduction and improving pain perception, your care plan should be as unique as your experience of pain. Discuss dietary modifications that could reduce inflammation, often exacerbated by diets high in trans fats, refined sugars, and processed foods. Consider the impact and potential benefits of non-surgical treatments. Injection-based treatments and, in some cases, surgical options might be part of the conversation, especially for structural abnormalities and conditions like severe spinal stenosis. By actively participating in these discussions, you help to co-create a pain management plan that prioritizes your well-being and quality of life.
When facing the challenge of consistent low back pain, embracing certain behavioral and activity adjustments can pave the way for significant improvement in your quality of life. It’s not just about managing the pain; it’s about reclaiming the activities you love and reducing the frequency and severity of that nagging discomfort in your lower back.
Other Articles Related for Relieving Pain
- 7 Simple Healthy Habits a Physical Therapist Would Recommend
- What is the Correct Sitting Posture?
- Exercise and Mental Health: Positively Improve All Aspects of Life
- Easy Habits for Health & Wellness: A Physical Therapist’s Approach
- Why Sleep is Important for Muscle Recovery
TL;DR
Understanding chronic back pain is the first step towards effective treatment. The most common causes of consistent low back pain seen in the PT clinic are due to poor posture, repetitive movements, and overuse injuries. Exploring a combination of treatments, including physical therapy, diet modifications, and mindfulness, is essential before considering more invasive options like surgery. Knowing the root cause of your pain is crucial to tailor a treatment plan that addresses your unique situation.
Tera Sandona is a licensed Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) and the founder of PT Complete. She helps high-achieving women break out of cycles of chronic pain, stress, and burnout through her Regulate and Rebuild Method, a sequenced approach that addresses the nervous system first and builds strength second. Her work focuses on helping women finally understand their bodies, rebuild strength, and create lasting resilience that fits real life.
