Back Pain and Its Treatment

Back pain is a common phenomenon and is witnessed by a lot of people these days. There could be several reasons for back pain in an individual. From bad posture to accident, neck related problems to arthritis, the reasons are many. While the level of pain varies from individual to individual, it can create extreme discomfort and hamper day to day activity. It is more commonly known as musculoskeletal disorder or MSD. It can also be accompanied with strain injury and neck pain. This condition is commonly known as WRULD. Physiotherapy is an extremely effective mode of treatment for treating any sort of back pain.

How Does Physiotherapy Help?

Physiotherapy not only helps in managing and curing the back pain but also helps in ensuring that the back pain doesn’t come again. In the case of a surgery, it can speed up the recovery. A physiotherapist first inspects the reason of pain and tries to find out its source. Post the identification, a physiotherapist suggests appropriate treatment plan which could include manual treatment, exercises, stretching, acupuncture etc.

Passive Physical Therapy:

The first level of physiotherapy starts with passive therapy. Decreasing pain is the main motive of passive therapy. Some of the passive therapy treatments include ultrasound, heat pack, ice pack, iontophoresis etc.

Active Therapy:

Almost all patients with back pain are advised to stretch the hamstring muscle. All stretching exercises should be done once or twice on a daily basis. Stretching moves the soft tissues and relieves legs, buttocks, spine, and back pain. In order to strengthen the back, it is necessary to perform certain exercises such as lumbar specialization on a daily basis for a span of 10-15 minutes. Back pain exercises stabilize the soft tissue and the joints. It also slows down the inflammation of the bone. Aerobic conditioning is another exercise that is recommended by a lot of therapists for permanent pain relief and non-recurrence of the pain in future. Aerobic exercises should be done for a stretch of half an hour to forty minutes.

Work and Posture:

Work and posture play a great role in patients suffering from back pain. For a patient whose work involves in carrying weight with one shoulder or lifting the heavy weight on a daily basis, it is necessary to ensure that the load is shared equally with both the shoulders. If on the other hand, the work is required to sit in front of a computer it has to be ensured that the screen falls in line with the eye level and a straight posture is maintained.

Medical Help:

If the back pain doesn’t go away even after repeated physio sessions, medical help needs to be taken on an immediate basis. Doctors often perform imagery tests such as x-ray, CT scan, MRI to negate the possibility of any bone structure related problem that might be causing the pain.

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