Low back pain (LBP) or Lumbago is very common and reported by 80% of people at some time in their life but a lot of people just live with the pain. Many a times, LBP or lower back pain is not serious and will usually get better with rest and exercises done in supervision of a physiotherapist.
Can low back pain be serious?
For everyday causes of lower back pain, standard at-home pain management is a reasonable approach. Not all back pain is a slipped disc requiring surgery. In fact, most cases of lower back pain are caused by a muscle strain and will get better relatively quickly.
At times, low back pain could also be an alarm for an internal organ disorder, for eg, any disorder involving the kidneys or the pancreas causes pain to be felt in the low back region. Such pain is known as “referred pain” in medical parlance.
Your low back pain may be serious and you should seek medical help immediately if the pain is accompanied with:
- pins & needles
- numbness
- referred pain, extreme pain
- headaches
- problems with speech, vision or hearing
When to see a Physiotherapist for low back pain?
There are things you can do to help relieve the common back pain. But sometimes the pain can last a long time or keep coming back. If pain has lasted longer than one or two weeks, or begins to interfere with your mobility and daily activities, you should seek help from a trained medical professional like physiotherapist for quick relief and recovery. Hear what Mrs Sarika tell about her recovery from lower back pain that was many years old by clicking here.
See: Back Pain: cause, Self care, FAQs
What can I do to relieve my lower back pain?
- Relative rest- Depending on the severity of back pain, minimise your daily activities. Proceed with precaution. Take rest pauses. Take complete bed rest if so recommended by a doctor
- Hot water bags or heating pads- this is a good short term remedy for low back pain
- Avoid lifting heavy weights, prolonged standing, slouched sitting, lying on uncomfortable surfaces.
- Keep a small towel roll at the curve of lower back while driving or sitting in a chair.
- Medication – Your doctor may prescribe you pain medication for a short term.
- Orthotics- such as a lumbar belt may be prescribed to support back.
- Exercise targeted at the affected area, taught by a physiotherapist will help you recover and prevent the pain from coming back.
What can I do to prevent low back pain?
Here are a few quick tips to keep back pain away:
- Movement – Exercise regularly
- Keep posture in mind
- Have a good night’s rest
- Keep your back supported
You could do some exercises for your back in the office setting, very easily whenever convenient.
What is the best way to sleep with lower back pain?
Curled up on your side, or if lying on your back then it is advisable to place a pillow underneath the thigh so as to keep them slightly bent and therefore relax the back muscles. Avoid hard and uneven surfaces.
Is walking good for low back pain?
Certainly. Any sustained physical activity, such as long walks, are known to stimulate the release of excitatory hormones in the brain such as dopamine and endorphins. This leads to an effect known as “generalised hypoalgesia” meaning an overall reduction in the perception of pain, which is felt in the entire body. If your symptoms worsen, however, such as pain starting to spread in the legs, feeling of tingling or numbness, or increase in the pain already present, then you must discontinue and consult a doctor immediately.
See: Back Pain: cause, Self care, FAQs
When to see a doctor for back pain?
You should not ignore your lower back pain, if you experience:
– Constant pain, irrespective of change in posture or position
– Pain at night
– Pain spreading in one or both legs, accompanied by tingling or numbness
– Pain increasing on coughing, sneezing, straining
– Pain making it difficult to walk or having altered your gait significantly
– Pain along with loss of sensation in legs and feet, or a feeling of weakness in the legs making it difficult to keep your footwear on.
A qualified medical practitioner should be consulted at the earliest.
What may be causing lower back pain for women?
Cause of lower back pain could be varied. However, there a few factors unique to being a woman that may be causing your back to hurt. They are:
- Low back pain is a common symptom as part of the premenstrual stress syndrome. Once the menses start, the pain because of uterine contractions may also be felt radiating to the lower back.
- During pregnancy, the added weight in the lower abdomen completely alters the normal spinal curves, leading to muscular imbalances in the spinal region and ultimately, pain. See Prenatal Exercise during Pregnancy
- Lack of prenatal exercises and continued strain due to child-care after delivery often aggravates back pain among new mothers. That is why, postnatal women often complaint of lower back pain. See Postnatal Physiotherapy: Advice after pregnancy
What usually causes lower back pain?
The most common causes for low back pain (non-referred pain) include a combination of following factors:
1. Work Posture can cause low back pain
An interesting study suggested that leaning forward in a chair while looking at a computer puts 3 to 4 times more strain on the back as compared to sitting upright. Poor work posture is inarguably the most common cause of low back pain.
See What’s causing your back pain? Is it poor posture
2. Abnormal Load on the spine connected with low back pain
If we were to carry loads multiple times of our own body weight, over a long period of time, then that leads to damage to joints, muscles and ultimately the pulpous discs that lie between the spinal segments, leading to a disc prolapse. The most typical mechanism is lifting weights in a bent over position. This pain can be very severe, and can also be felt spreading in the thighs and legs.
See Six Active Stretches
3. Obesity and Back Pain
Additional fats around the abdomen alter the spinal curves, causing exaggeration of the lower back curve (hyperlordosis). This phenomenon alters the normal relationship between joints and muscles leading to pain.
4. Exercise: Lack as well as Excess of it
There is an interesting term on the rise recently, a group of people known as weekend warriors. These are people who spend most of their weekdays behind a desk, working a stressful and demanding job, do not take care of their eating habits, and as a result neglect their health. Once it becomes obvious that they have compromised their health, they set out to do something about it when they have spare time on the weekends. Often if these efforts are too extreme, or too out of proportion and if done without seeking professional help, lead to injuries and pain, instead of the desired effect. A balanced, disciplined approach with proper guidance is the key. Muscles and joints should be loaded and trained in a graded manner to retain their health and also, subsequently, to improve it.
5. Genetics
Low back pain is exceptional in the aspect that one’s genetics have very little to contribute to it. Very uncommonly a person may suffer from low back pain if he/she is born with some spinal defect, such as scoliosis (abnormal curve of the spine sideways) or a hemivertebrae or a fused spine.
6. Inflammation/ Infection for low back pain
These causes affect the body in general as well, in addition to low back. Ankylosing spondylitis is an inflammation affecting only the spine that causes progressive stiffness of the spine.
See Understanding Spondylosis VS Spondylitis
7. Degeneration
As the age increases, the quality of bones and muscles gradually declines, however if the lifestyle induced demands on the body remain the same, or there is a lack of health care, the symptoms worsen to the point of needing medical support.
See Osteoporosis : All You Wanted To Know
How physiotherapy helps lower back pain?
Early treatment is the key to decreasing your pain and getting back to full activity. Treatment that focuses on exercise, mechanics and posture improves symptoms quickly and reduces your chance for recurrence.
At ReLiva, a physiotherapist will plan treatment to your specific problem, based on assessment of your conditions and examination to idenitfy the probable causes of your low back pain. The good news is if you seek out a physiotherapist immediately after getting back pain, treatment is extremely effective. The longer symptoms linger, the harder it becomes to treat.
Staying active is important, and bed rest should be avoided. Based on your examination, the best treatment options for low back pain are:
1) Modalities and/or Manual therapy (hands-on mobilization of the joints in your back). Physiotherapists at ReLiva often use a combination of modalities and techniques based on your assessment, to relieve stiffness, pain and improve movement of the joints and muscles of your spine.
2) Movement exercises that restore motion and decrease radiating or referred pain. At ReLiva, physiotherapists will also prescribe these exercises, using a variety of techniques including McKenzie, Neuro-dynamic mobilization etc.
If your pain is chronic, do not fear; physiotherapy can still help! Along with the first two options, chronic low back pain is best managed with progressive strengthening exercises.
3)Progressive strengthening exercises that focus on core stability and endurance.
If you have lower back pain, waiting it out may reduce symptoms, but may not actually fix the reason you got back pain in the first place. That is why it is always important to be assessed by a physiotherapist before attempting to manage back pain yourself.
Contact us at +91 99209 91584 and we will connect you with a physiotherapist near you. A detailed assessment noting the type of pain, how it occurred, what makes it better and what makes it worse will allow the physiotherapist to prescribe the right treatment option for you.
This post is contributed by Dr Madhura Bhagat (PT). Dr Bhagat is MPT, specialising in Musculo-skeletal Physiotherapy. She is loved by her patients for her pleasant demeanour and empathetic approach to their recovery. Dr Bhagat practices in Navi Mumbai at ReLiva Physiotherapy & Rehab.
Need Physiotherapy for Lower back Pain?
ReLiva is there
