Many of us have complained at one point or another about stiffness, or radiating pain into the buttock/legs or mid-back. These are both indicators of low back problems affecting us. Low back problems are very prevalent in our society and can greatly limit our ability to carry out daily tasks.
Symptoms of Low Back Pain:
The pain can range anywhere from a mild nagging, to a severe pain that will greatly limit your mobility. You may feel very stiff, especially in the morning and find you have to change positions frequently to alleviate symptoms.
Low back pain can create difficulty with prolonged walking, standing, sleeping, bending, lifting, or twisting. Driving can also be very challenging, especially if you are experiencing radiating symptoms down your leg. In more severe cases you can start to experience numbness and weakness into the foot due to nerve compression.
Sources of Low Back Pain:
It can stem from many different sources in the spine.
- Degenerative changes that can occur in the vertebrae and discs which will restrict your normal mobility and put abnormal stress on the muscles and ligaments of the spine. Degenerative changes can also put increased pressure on the nerves that exit small holes between the vertebrae which will result in muscle spasms in the back and hips and radiating pain or weakness into the legs.
- Disc herniations are also a common cause of low back pain which can cause significant inflammation and resultant muscle spasms, stiffness, and radiating pain.
- Weakness of the muscles that surround and support the low back are very common and often contribute to accelerated degenerative changes and put you at risk for disc pathology. These muscle imbalances can also cause your low back pain to become chronic and “nagging” causing you to start to slowly modify your normal life style.
How do you treat it?
Many of us think, low back pain is just something we have to “live with”. However did you know that physical therapy can be extremely beneficial for resolving low back problems and limiting recurrent episodes thus greatly improving your quality of life?
There are many treatments for low back pain, with physical therapy being one of the most successful options. Physical therapy will help identify the exact source of your pain and address mobility and strength deficits that will allow you to have lasting pain relief.
Physical therapy will improve the mobility of the joints and muscles of the low back, improve your flexibility, resolve muscle spasms, and improve your muscle strength and balance of the hip, core, and back musculature. Radiating symptoms into the hips and legs can be completely resolved with specific movement patterns and exercises and full strength of your legs and ankle can be restored returning you to your prior level of function!
By Cierra Washington, ATC
