Back pain can be unbearable and can be caused by different reasons. Sciatica is one cause. What is Sciatica? Why does it cause so much pain in your spine.
How often have you been talking to a friend and they are complaining that their ‘sciatica’ is playing up again and the MRI or X-ray is saying they have degeneration all through their spine and the outcome is all gloom and doom? They may be even talking about the possibility of a spinal fusion. Does any of this sound familiar?
Well the good news is that not all imaging correlates with your ‘pain’. Below you will find an infographic adopted from the work of Brinjiki et al. (2015) that describes the prevalence of imaging on participants without back pain. You might find it interesting to peruse the infographic below before reading on.
It’s amazing right! This goes to the heart that not all back pain can be explained by imaging alone.
Though, if you currently have back pain and you have imaging that demonstrates or proves your where your pain is emanating from, how does this affect you?
Breaking it down to its most basic element, the best thing you can do is find a form of physical activity that doesn’t exacerbate your pain and build on that. Naturally, there are other things you can be doing though at the core of back pain management, whether it be acute or chronic, is to restore movement through each segment of your lumbar spine. It could be as simple as going for a small walk or riding on a stationary bike to begin with. This helps de-threaten the pain response and give you confidence that movement without pain can occur.
In some cases though you may have tried all of this and still find that your back gets sore. This is when Physiotherapy can help. We can perform an assessment and provide a diagnosis based on the clinical features of your ailment. Additionally, we can explore if there are any other contextual factors that may be exacerbating your pain and discomfort.
We can use manual and active techniques to help decrease your pain based on science. This is where you the patient comes into the fold and our motto of patient empowerment is imperative for goal attainment. The Physiotherapist will provide you with a home exercise program and this is where the real work begins. If you want to eliminate or decrease your pain to a tolerable level, a home exercise program is at the heart of your rehabilitation, and every Physio should place great emphasis on this portion of your rehabilitation.
If you would like to discuss your current predicament or if you have another condition that is amenable to Physiotherapy please feel free to contact the clinic.
