BACK PAIN TREATMENT

The following advice and treatment are commonly given for a sudden-onset (acute) bout of nonspecific low back pain.

Keeping active

Continue with normal activities as much as possible. This may not be possible at first if the pain is very bad. However, move around as soon as you are able, and get back into normal activities as soon as you can. As a rule, don't do anything that causes a lot of pain. However, you will have to accept some discomfort when you are trying to keep active. Setting a new goal each day may be a good idea. For example, walking around the house on one day, a walk to the shops the next, etc.
Also, sleep in the most naturally comfortable position on whatever is the most comfortable surface. Advice given in the past used to be to sleep on a firm mattress. However, there is no evidence to say that a firm mattress is better than any other type of mattress for people with low back pain. Some people find that a small firm pillow between the knees when sleeping on the side helps to ease symptoms at night.
If you have a job, aim to get back to work as soon as possible. There is no need to wait for complete freedom from pain before returning to work. Returning to work often helps to relieve pain by getting back to a normal pattern of activity and providing a distraction from the pain.
In the past, advice had been to rest until the pain eases. It is now known that this was wrong. The evidence from research trials is that you are likely to recover more quickly by getting moving again, and getting back to work as soon as possible. Also, you are less likely to develop persistent (chronic) back pain if you keep active when you have back pain rather than rest a lot.

WORLD SPINE DAY might have passed most of us by over the weekend but when one considers that 80% of us will experience back pain at some stage in our lives, it’s something we should probably pay more attention to.
Chartered Physiotherapist Jenny Branigan deals with low back pain (LBP) sufferers every day and says that a person’s beliefs and attitudes towards pain will influence their prognosis.
She also explains how people with the worst back pain beliefs and greatest fear about physical activity become the most disabled.
Here are five other common myths she has debunked for us.

Back pain is a common problem that affects most people at some point in their life.

It may be triggered by bad posture while sitting or standing, bending awkwardly, or lifting incorrectly. It’s not generally caused by a serious condition. Find out more about the causes of back pain.

In most cases, back pain will improve in a few weeks or months, although some people experience long-term pain or pain that keeps coming back.

Types of back pain

Backache is most common in the lower back ('lumbago'), although it can be felt anywhere along your spine, from your neck down to your hips. Read information on neck pain and shoulder pain, which are covered separately.

Sometimes, back pain can be caused by an injury or disease, such as:

• a slipped disc – when one of the discs in the spine is damaged and presses on the nerves
• sciatica – irritation or compression of the sciatic nerve, which causes pain, numbness and tingling that travels down one leg
• whiplash – neck injury caused by a sudden impact
• frozen shoulder – inflammation around the shoulder that causes pain and stiffness
• ankylosing spondylitis – a long-term condition that causes pain and stiffness where the spine meets the pelvis

The rest of this information will focus on back pain that doesn’t have an obvious cause. Doctors call this “non-specific back pain”.