Lower Back Pain

It is estimated that 80% of human beings will experience some type of lower back pain in their life, which could be caused by numerous diverse biopsychosocial conditions.

Some countries state that back pain is one of the most common reasons people take a day off work, quite startling!

The good news is that in general this pain can be avoided with some good back education, practices, techniques and exercises.

Another piece of good news is that most back pain is caused by musculoskeletal conditions and be treated with Remedial Massage, Myotherapy and Dry Needling.

 

What Causes Lower Back Pain?

Researchers & Spinal Health Care Practitioners have cateoriesed Lower Back Pain into the following categories:

Specific Spinal Pathologies (<1%)

Luckily less than 1% of back pain sufferers have such a condition, these could include: "spinal infections, malignancy, spinal arthropathies (eg rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis), cauda equina syndrome or spinal fractures" and all 'require early diagnosis and prompt referral to the appropriate medical specialist.'

Radicular Syndromes (5-10%)

"Researchers believe that radicular syndrome causes 5-10% of the presentations of back pain to general practitioners"

The most common being sciatica, though whilst it is the most common nerve to be affected, there are several others such as the femoral nerve.
Other common back injuries which fall into this category are: "herniated disc (slipped disc), facet joint sprain, spondylolisthesis, spondylolysis, degenerative disc disease, spondylosis, and back ligament sprain can all contribute to or cause radicular pain syndrome due to swelling or space occupying material adjacent to the spinal nerve. The nerve is either irritated (radicular pain) or pinched/compressed (radiculopathy)."

Non-Specific Lower Back Pain (NSLBP)

A classification used for sufferers of lower back pain where 'no specific structure has been injured' which is based on exclusion, this means that the two categories have already been tested for and are not the issue!

This means that we have approximately 90-95% of the lower back pain falling into this category and in most cases can be managed conservatively avoiding any type of surgery. In addition, they can be fast tracked if you get the correct treatment and do exerices religiously!

What are the main types of NSLBP?

There are many, you can well imagine the hundreds of modes in which you can strain your back, but the majority fall "roughly into either a sudden (traumatic) or sustained overstress injuries."

Sudden/Traumatic

Most common being back muscle strain, back ligament sprain, an example, bending awkwardly to lift a heavy load that tears or damages structures.
Another is 'degenerative disc disease, which may underly the acute conditions and predispose you to the acute pain'

sunstained overstress injuries

These are probably the more common but are also the easier to prevent, a good example being poor posture which over time causes "an accumulated microtrauma that overloads your lower back structures over an extended period of time to cause injury and back pain."

Early Diagnosis

As they say 'the early bird catches the worm' and this is true for managing back pain as well.

Early diagnosis is key, don't wait until it becomes chronic!

Call Sue Theodore now on 0409 420 200 to discuss your back issues, proper treatment and techniques to manage & hopefully rid your lower back pain