7 Mistakes People Make When Dealing With Back Pain
The Best Ways to Manage your Back Pain
Here at Compass Physio and Trim Physio we have worked with back pain for years
We have a great understanding of how to manage both sudden onset of back pain and long term back pain
There are several common mistakes we consistently see people are making when they have back pain.
Could you or someone you know be making one or more of these mistakes?
We list the most common mistakes below and what YOU can do about it
Mistake #1
Ignoring The Pain, Thinking It Will Go Away On Its Own.
We often ask clients, how long have you had your pain?
The replies most commonly vary from months to years. I was hoping it would sort itself out.
Just getting on with things and thinking the pain will go away, may work but this will take a lot of time, plus, that’s if the pain ever goes away anyway.
Early intervention is shown to help reduce your pain in the long term.
So if there is a niggle get it assessed by a professional.
Often the reassurance of knowing the root source of your back pain
Is it the joint?
The Disc?
The Nerve?
Or the Muscle?
Knowing the answer to this will help you start in the right path to recovery
That is what we do in an initial physiotherapy session
A Step by step guide on how to recover
Mistake #2
Trusting In Medications, Hoping Issue Will Resolve.
Yes, taking medication can help to ease pain.
However, medication is not always treating the real source of the problem.
We often advise it in the early stages if moving and activity make your pain worse
Often people say
“I am not one for taking painkillers”
In certain cases the painkillers will reduce your symptoms to allow you do more better and get on the road to recovery
This however is where some people stop their journey and rely on the pain relief in the longer term
A full assessment and diagnosis can help guide you on the best pathway for managing for example chronic back pain
Often medication does play an important part on the recovery journey but is not the answer
Mistake #3
Too Often Our Clients Tell Us That They Have Been Following The Advice Of A Friend Or Family Member To Manage Their Symptoms.
What may have worked for your Auntie Mary to ease her acute low back pain is not necessarily what is going to work for you.
I have seen cases in clinic of acute back pain where people have done the strangest things
Hanging upside down
Buying medications of the internet
Doing Zumba workouts to “Free up the back”
Buying insoles in a shop because they were told they had a leg length discrepancy by family member
At the end of the day our family is number one and the most important people so we trust them
However
We are all individuals and very different in our body make up, and your back pain could be coming from an entirely different source!
You need to seek professional advice that will diagnose the root cause of the problem.
Mistake #4
Youtube or Instagram Back Pain Videos
I regularly have clients who attend and demonstrate to me a set of exercises they have found online
I will be honest the effectiveness can vary a lot as often the exercises are incorrect or potentially harmful for their particular problem
Exercise for your chronic pain should be specific for your needs.
Therefore, understanding what’s actually wrong with you will help you make a much better informed decision about what exercise will be most beneficial to you and reduce pain.
The correct exercises obviously are designed to reduce muscle pain or at a minimum relieve pain
Mistake #5
Rushing Back Into Activities Too Soon.
Rushing back to activities too quickly can be detrimental to your recovery.
Too much stressful activity on the body, with the body in a weakened state can quickly escalate your back pain
At Compass Physio and Trim Physio we use a step by step system of increasing your activity
Once you can achieve a certain level you move on to the next
This way there is less chance of making your pain worse
If it does start to grumble we can bring you back a step rather than having to stop completely
Having this clear plan and pathway is one of the things that we find clients really take on board and make the most of during their back pain recovery pathway
Mistake #6
Playing It Too Safe And Resting For Too Long.
Current research suggests that exercise is the best action to take to help you recover from back pain.
Again remember, resting is almost like doing nothing, and you are always better trying to do something to help yourself recover.
Muscles get weaker when we reduce our activity
The very nature of back pain causes us to want to move differently and adopt what we do
Lets get moving and figure out what our body will tolerate
Swimming, cycling, walking or Pilates for example
On or more of the above can play a fundamental part in a recovery journey
Mistake #7
Waiting Too Long To Ask The Right Person For Help.
The longer you wait to ask the right person, the longer you suffer with pain.
You may also prolong the amount of time that it will take to recover from your back pain. My advice is to contact a health professional ASAP.
If you are already making any of these mistakes, you are not alone and you should know at the outset, rarely is it ever too late to get things right.
Here is the great news
Even if you have been making ALL of these mistakes we can still help you.
We have 5 x 15 minute calls available to help people who want to put and end to their back pain and get the journey to recovery started
