Lower back pain is the most common injury across people of all ages and is known to affect 80% of us at some point in our lives. Huge right ?
TWO types of lower back pain you definitely don't want to miss!
Spondylolisthesis - involves the forward slipping of the vertebra on the disc. Commonly seen in adolescent kids who repeatedly bend their spines backwards such as soccer players doing alot of running, dancers, gymnasts, tennis players and cricket fast bowlers
Stress Fractures/Pars Defects- arise from repeated lower back extension, and are often the precursors to a spondylolisthesis
The essential things you need to know about managing your lower back pain.
Initial management of lower back pain involved settling down the symptoms via methods such as soft tissue release and dry needling of tight lower back muscles and surrounding glute/hip muscles in addition to loosening up stiff joints via joint mobilisations.
Postural taping can also be used to provide you with feedback as to pain provocative positioning of your back in the early stages. However as pain subsides, a core and hip/glute muscle strengthening program has been proven by scientific research to provide you with long term benefit and prevention of recurring episodes of lower back pain.
Glute stretch Lie on your back and bend one knee up to your chest while crossing the other leg over the front of your knee. Feel the stretch in the outer glute muscle of the leg that's crossed over the knee and hold the position for 30 seconds. Repeat on both sides for optimal results
Wall Squats Place ball in the small of your back then slide down the wall aiming for the angle of your knees to be as close to 90 degrees as possible, before returning back to the starting position. (Ableto be done without a swiss ball, by sitting and standing from a chair)
Have you heard David's story?
David is a 56 year old truck driver who first came to us after having recurring episodes of lower back pain every few months for the past 4 years. He'd had multiple episodes of lower back pain which came on gradually and caused him discomfort across the whole lower back. His pain was getting to the point where he couldn't tolerate sitting in the truck for more than two hours at a time which was extremely disruptive to his work. Because of this, David had to reduce his hours which meant less money coming in to pay bills and support his wife and children.
David's most recent episode of lower back pain was settled through manual therapy in a few weeks, however following this, our physio Chris taught David's wife how to perform postural taping on his back everytime he got into the truck in addition to David undertaking an eight week core and glute muscle strengthening program. After 6 months, Chris then called David to check up on him and was pleased to note he was actually taking on alot of overtime and hadn't had a single lower back niggle since completing his physio program!
Lumbar spine support beltsare optimal when used during any aggravating activity such as while at work, working around the house or when remaining seated for long periods of time such as driving.
