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BACK PAIN
MANAGING YOUR BACK PAIN
There is no doubt that back pain can be debilitating and well, frankly quite worrying and scary. Whether you are suffering from acute or persistent low back pain there will be things that you can do to improve your symptoms at home. Take a look below at some resources that could help you do this.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR CONDITION
Is is estimated that between 80-90% of us will experience low back pain at some stage in our lives and of those people, around 80% will see full resolution of their symptoms within 6 weeks. It is also important to highlight that less than 3% of all back pain episodes are a result of serious or sinister pathology, for example, vertebral fracture, spinal infection, metastasis or spinal cord compression (please see the page on cauda equina syndrome for more information on spinal cord compression).
The majority of time people experience low back pain it is classified as 'non specific low back pain' this means that there is no one, specific, identifiable tissue that is the cause of your pain. This does not mean, however, that your pain is not real, it just means that pain is complex and back pain in particular can be bought on by any number of factors. Here are just a few:
Physical:
Muscle sprain or strain
Sudden change in training load
Prolonged period of being sedentary
Recent illness
General health:
Sedentary lifestyle
Osteoporosis
Cardiovascular disease
Diabetes
Obesity & weight gain
Osteoarthritis
Medications and previous invasive treatments
Previous surgeries
Rheumatological conditions
Mental health issues
As you can see there are many factors that can cause pain and if some of these factors are affecting our nervous system then this can present as low back pain.
Psychological:
Stress
Anger
Frustration
Mood
Thoughts, feelings & emotions
Catastrophising health beliefs
Your attitudes to pain
Fear of movement
Anxiety & depression
Environmental factors:
Sleep
Nutrition & diet
Finances
Work
Relationships
Social isolation
Exercise
Smoking & alcohol
