When you suffer chronic back pain, it can feel as though your entire life is disrupted. Workplace pain can lead to lower productivity, more sick days, and more stress. You may not be able to care for yourself or your loved ones if you are in pain at home. Chronic back pain can make it difficult to exercise and stay active, which can lead to additional pain, weight gain, and other sedentary-related disorders.
The good news is, even if you have chronic back pain now, you don’t necessarily have to live with it forever. Contact our physical therapy office to schedule a consultation with a physical therapist who can help you start feeling better and feeling more in control of your life.
Physical therapy to the rescue: say goodbye to back pain!
Most of us will have back pain at some point in our lives, but for some people, the agony might last for three months or longer. While reducing pain is a priority, it’s equally crucial to identify and address the causes that contribute to chronic back pain.
If you don’t address the core causes, you’re more likely to have recurring issues and long-term dysfunction—otherwise, if you stop taking pain medication, the pain will just come back.
This is just one of the many reasons why working with a physical therapist is so beneficial! They can help you make sure you don’t have to keep dealing with the same problem, over and over again.
Postural exams, strength, and range of motion testing, and balance, motor control, and coordination tests are just a few of the physical therapy services that can help us figure out why your back pain is happening and why the underlying issue formed in the first place. Your physical therapist can then prescribe specific techniques to address these core causes while also providing symptom relief services.
In other words, we seek to resolve the “why’s” of your pain while also resolving the pain itself!
Here are a few specific things you can expect when working with a physical therapist:
- A thorough assessment of your condition. To help us clarify your diagnosis, we’ll examine your body, learn about your medical and family history, develop a list of your symptoms (including pain, stiffness, and weakness or numbness in one or both legs), and learn more about your lifestyle and current issues. Even checking on your footwear, walking style, posture, and body mechanics can give a physical therapist a lot of information, so dress comfortably and be ready to move.
- A chance to clarify your goals. It is critical to assist you in making improvements by using objective data such as strength, discomfort levels, and range of motion. But we’ll also spend time learning about the things you want to be able to do and accomplish after your back pain is gone.
- This can involve extremely specialized functional tasks such as golfing or walking your dog around the block without pausing. What’s important to you is important to us! We’ll always keep your goals in mind as we create a treatment plan so you can feel and see your progress in therapy. By keeping your goals and personal vision in the front and center of your plan of care, we also help you have more FUN in your physical therapy sessions!
- A plan of care that combines a customized range of evidence-based interventions. We can make practical recommendations on stress management, diet, and other lifestyle matters, and refer you to other providers as needed. We can prescribe and fit you for adaptive equipment and support devices like braces or orthotics, teach you safer ways to move or complete daily tasks with efficiency and safety, and help you start feeling better so you can exercise regularly again, which we know is good for spinal health and mental well-being.
- Physical therapy services that are effective for alleviating chronic back pain include soft tissue massage, joint mobilizations, spinal manipulations, therapeutic exercise, therapeutic pain education, and non-invasive modalities like electrical stimulation.
Your physical therapist can even help you prepare for or recover from back surgery if this kind of procedure is eventually determined to be appropriate for your needs.
The major benefits of physical therapy
Physical therapy is recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of the “first lines” of treatment for most types of chronic pain. Altogether, our approach to diagnosing and treating back pain can benefit you by offering:
- Decreased reliance on pain medications or invasive procedures
- Improved cost-effectiveness
- Lowered healthcare costs
- Decreased downtime (unlike back surgeries, which can require months of challenging recovery, often with little or no symptom improvement)
- Improved productivity
- Improved activity tolerance
- Longer-lasting relief
- Improved spinal health
- Reduced risk of recurring issues and worsening tissue damage
- Increased sense of control of your health
- Increased understanding of your pain experience
Call in the experts!
Physical therapy is proven to be an effective back pain treatment and is safe for people of all ages and health backgrounds. What are you waiting for? Contact our clinic today to schedule an appointment with a physical therapist and get back on the road to the active and pain-free lifestyle you want and deserve!
