Back Injuries and Pain.
Back injuries, pain and stiffness is one of the most common issues we see in our clinics. We treat chronic back pain and stiffness, which is usually pain that has lasted for >12 weeks and may have a postural or lifestyle cause, as well as more acute issues, like disc injuries, nerve pain and traumatic injuries caused through sport or accidents.
Here are a few of the back issues we treat in more detail, or you can book an appointment via the button below:
Chronic Back Pain and Stiffness
The kind of nagging ache that can bother you when you’re sitting, standing, driving or just going about your normal daily activities.
While chronic back pain may be triggered by an initial injury, it may also come on without a clear or sudden cause. Often it is experienced as a constant dull ache that might comes on slowly over time. You may find that it worsened by spending extended periods of time in one position, or when doing seemingly low intensity tasks like vacuuming or playing a light game of golf!
With all injuries and pain we will always screen for injuries or health issues that might point to anything serious, however with this kind of condition there is a rarely any serious damage. The pain is this case can often be because of gradual sensitisation of your tissues over time, either from lack of movement or because of fatigue from having to sustain positions for too long.
By looking at your movement, mobility, strength and getting a clear view of the postures and positions you spend a lot of your time we can help you to build the strength and fitness of your back to be able to handle these demands, or teach you strategies that will allow your back to rest and recover effectively.
Back Sprains and Strains
In more acute injuries we may see sprains, which are injuries to the joints or ligaments of the spine, or strains which are pulls or overstretching of muscles or tendons around the spine.
These are quite often the ones described as “my back just went” after bending over to pick up a shoe or to do a seemingly simple task. They can also be caused by more obvious events or sports injuries.
Depending on the severity, both are generally managed by a period of de-loading and protecting the area to create an environment which allows the body to heal naturally, and then gradually rebuilding the strength and health of the muscles, ligaments or tendons through targeted exercises which encourage adaptation and strengthening of the tissue.
During the treatment of these injuries we will also make sure that we find ways for you to still continue to live your life or find ways to move so you are not completely set back by your injury.
Exercise Related Pain
We treat a lot of weightlifters, CrossFitters and Gymnasts at Formotion, which means we see a lot of client who are regularly placing large amounts of load or volume of exercise on their backs, which normally would be a good thing when done with approriate progressions and consideration of recovery!
Gradual or acute episodes of back pain can may result in these sports when there is an imbalance of how you use your back, legs and shoulders. The imbalances may be caused by a lack of flexibility and/or strength, or a poor awareness of technique leading to certain areas being overused. These compensatory patterns can cause pain or injury to the area that is being overloaded, or may lead to weakening of the areas that don’t then get used which can cause issues in itself.
For these issues we will first assess your movement, strength and look at technique in the movements you train. We then treat and manage these issues with specific stretches, strength exercises or changes to your technique to allow your body to function as efficiently as possible and spread the load out across more areas.
In some cases an overload through overtraining of certain movements is the culprit, in which case treatment comes in the form of taking a good look at your training programme and your recovery strategies and making changes as required.
Disc Herniations and Nerve Injuries
Intervertebral disc are strong, fibro-cartilaginous joints of your spine that help to allow movement and act as shock absorbers. Disc injuries or issues can be caused through degenerative changes which result in a loss of disc height between the joints, or disc prolapses or herniations which is where the inside contents of the disc are pushed outwards causing a bulge (prolapse), or outside of the annulus or outer capsule of the disc (herniation).
A common misconception is that a disc can “slip” which may create scary images of discs literally slipping out from between the vertebral bones and causing damage to spinal cords and other structures. The good news is that this is highly improbable, unless in severe traumatic incidents, as your discs are well and truly firmly attached to your spine.
A disc prolapse or herniation can cause compression of the nerves or spinal cord, which may result in pain and/or loss of function, but the chances of serious long term damage, or para/quadriplegia is incredibly rare. We also know now that, similar to other joint injuries in the body, discs can heal on their own without routinely requiring surgery or invasive procedures.
You might experience nerve pain as a deep, dull burning sort of ache, similar to a toothache. This may extend down the leg and you may experience pins and needles, numbness or a loss of strength. In both these cases we will first assess how serious the issue is, decide whether to send you for a scan to assist with our diagnosis or to refer you on to a specialist.
If we think that it is manageable conservatively we may treat you with things like advice on posture, joint or nerve mobilisations, exercises or taping. Often pain relief management from a GP is helpful with nerve injuries because the pain can be quite severe.