3 Secrets You Must Know When Dealing With Back Pain

Photo by Joyce McCown on Unsplash

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My patient, Janet (name has been changed to protect privacy) has been struggling with back pain for years. One day she was reaching for her keys and her back went out. Every time she moved she felt an electrical shock go up her spine. The pain was so bad she had to call in to work. Next, she crawled over to the sofa and dialed the number to her doctor. Unfortunately the first available appointment was in 3 weeks. By then her back was slightly better, but she still couldn’t sit for more than 5 minutes or walk longer than 10 minutes.  She was miserable.

The doctor’s office visit took less than 15 minutes. She was given some pain pills and a script for physical therapy. She was back to work, but going to Zumba and picking up her 3 year old daughter were completely out of question. Sounds familiar? I hear a similar story several times a day. Most people have or will experience back pain in their lifetime. I will share 3 secrets you need to know when dealing with back pain.

First, don’t wait so long. Come and get your back treated as soon as you can. The sooner you receive physical therapy the faster we can get you feeling better. Here, in Colorado, we have direct access, which means that you can be seen by a physical therapist without a referral from your physician. We are trained to evaluate and treat back pain. We are also trained in differential diagnosis. This means that if your pain is caused by something other than a musculoskeletal issue we will refer you to a specialist. Janet could have saved herself 3 weeks of misery if she knew about it.

As you know our spine has 3 curves: lower back, upper back and neck. Spine is like a pearl necklace, every vertebrae is supposed to move independently of each other.  When you tweak your back, your muscles go into a spasm, the surrounding tissues become swollen and irritated and every movement becomes painful. Pain is your body’s signal that something is wrong. You can barely move, but you have to go to work, so you pop some pain pills and off you go. Now you are shifted to one side, nothing feels natural anymore and you start compensating by using muscles the way that they are not supposed to be used and create a secondary injury. So the sooner you get it treated, the sooner we can break this cycle and the faster you will be back to your normal routine.

Second secret is restoring neutral alignment of the spine, which I refer to as the neutral. If one of the three spinal curves is bigger or smaller than it is supposed to be,  or if you are creating an extra curve because you are shifted to  one side, the compression on the spine, discs and surrounding tissues is increased which means you are causing  yourself more pain. The 3 curves have to be in correct places for the muscle spasm to stop. When you are in neutral there is no pain. The muscles can relax, the swelling can decrease and you may just be lucky enough to get yourself out of the pain cycle.

Try sitting up on the edge of your chair. Try leaning forward just slightly. There will be a place where you will have no pain. If you lean forward too much or too little it will hurt. It has to be just right, and pain is your guide.  As you shift your pelvis forward you will notice that your head is going to move back. I encourage you to explore this concept. At a certain point you will notice that your neck is long and your jaw is relaxed. Congratulations, this is your neutral.

The third secret is Pilates.  Joseph Pilates came up with a brilliant system of exercises that teach you how to find neutral spine alignment. When you do Pilates exercises you are able to access the muscle memory of correct pain free movement. This concept of neutral is reinforced during all exercises so eventually it becomes second nature. Yes we can get you out of pain with massage, dry needling and other bodywork tricks we do, but Pilates is the long term solution. During the exercises you are able to strengthen and stretch at the same time. You will feel lighter, taller and have less pain.

So there you have it. Three secrets of managing back pain. Come see your PT as soon as you can, find your neutral spine and strengthen your core with Pilates exercise. Check out our Free E-Book on 8 Natural Ways To Ease Your Back Pain Without Medication Or Visits to Doctor's Office.