Chronic Low Back Pain – How Can Physiotherapy Help?

Chronic low back pain is characterised by the persistence of pain beyond 3 months. It is a complex condition which may be caused by a variety of factors. If you have chronic low back pain you may have had an acute injury that did not resolve as it was not treated correctly. Or, a single event may not have caused your pain. Perhaps you have been sitting, standing or lifting the ‘wrong way’ for years which has accumulated and results in aches and pains in your back.

You may have been told that you have a ‘slipped disc’ – this is a bit of a misnomer as discs cannot slip. Discs, and your spine in general, are one of the strongest parts of the human body. Yes, some discs get degenerated or bulge, but research has shown that this is often a normal process of ageing, like getting wrinkles or grey hairs. A lot of chronic back pain has been wrongfully attributed to these ‘disc slips’ and research has shown that this negative association can feed into patients pains. In other words, psychological factors may play a part.

Does this mean the pain is all in your head? Of course not. With physiotherapy, we always conduct a thorough assessment to find the source of your pain. This may be correcting the way that you sit or move or lift things. Or, this may involve education and re-assurance that your back is strong and it is safe to move.

In other cases you may have weak core muscles and are over relying on tight, overused low back muscles, causing your pain.

The morale of the story is: there could be lots of different reasons you are having chronic low back pain, but there are also lots of things we can do to help you with it! Taping, soft tissue therapy and dry needling can help with more acute bouts of back pain. Exercise can help strengthen weak areas and get you moving better!

To find out more information, contact one of our physiotherapists at Rebalance Physiotherapy by calling 01 441 0100 today.