By Ben Croxford
Tackling the beast of back pain in a short article is going to be no easy task. Back pain is complicated, common, debilitating and often very misunderstood. What’s worse is that the statistics tell us that the majority of us ordinary people will suffer back pain at some point in our lives.
There are many ways to injure your back, such as sporting injuries, falls, trauma, awkward lifting and overload with repetitive movements. However, somewhat ironically, the most common way to hurt your back is being sedentary.
Our backs love movement, they are designed to bend, twist, lift and take high loads. Our backs are robust, strong and stable. What they don’t like is prolonged postures (like sitting) and inactivity. This weakens our back, making it more vulnerable to being injured.
A common misconception is that lifting is bad for your back. This is absolutely not the case – our back is designed to lift and does it well. However, if you’ve spent all week at the office, in front of a tv or curled up with a book, then you’ve spent the week deconditioning your back and therefore you become at risk when you lift something heavy on the weekend.
Simply, the best way to look after your back is to stay active and keep moving. Playing soccer, going to the gym, walking the dog – the more you move, the better you’re looking after your back. The problem with back pain and injury is that it crucially limits your ability to do the very thing that helps the most.
So, how do we treat back pain with best practice? I see it as a “two-pronged attack”. We firstly need to find ways to settle your pain – this might be massage, Dry Needling or Acupuncture, stretches, heat or pain medication. Once the pain is under control, we have an opportunity to then strengthen and rehabilitate your back with carefully selected exercises, improving its resilience and targeting the risk factors to achieve a long-term outcome.
The research evidence is clear, exercise is amongst the best treatments for all types of back pain. So get out there and keep moving!
Ben Croxford is a Physiotherapist and leads the team at Form & Practice Mt Evelyn and Olinda. His writings explore his favourite health topics, challenge common myths and aim to empower you to take control of your own health. Find out more at formandpractice.com.au
