Healthy Habits for Your Back Pain

The Care and Relief of Back Pain

As part of internship at +Bauer Physical Therapy , Michelle Hoffmann, Physical Therapy Student at the Doctoral Program at Chapman University Program in Physical Therapy, presents: Caring for Your Back. 

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Please read on and watch the video below.

If you have experienced back pain then you know how it can affect your lifestyle and ability to engage in work and daily activity. Back pain can knock you down for days or weeks. You may have debilitating pain where you are confined to a bed, or the daily nagging ache that just wears on you. There may be localized pain, or numbness and tingling that refers to the legs. 

Back pain presents itself differently based on the structures involved. There are many sources of pain that can be referred from the spine and surrounding tissue. This is why careful assessment and diagnosis is required to identify the culprit of your complaints.  


Back Pain is not Created, or Treated, Equally.

There are many treatments purported to relieve back pain once and for all. This just is not true. The relief of back pain requires looking at all possible causes and developing an individualized treatment program to address the potential stressors. 

Back pain can be the result of accumulated stressors that act on the spinal structures over time. These are a few causes of repetitive stress. 

• Postural habits
• Lifting technique
• Repetitive movements
• Repetitive compression(sitting, bouncing)
• Poor mechanics: golf, tennis
• Poor preparation: lack of fitness

Repetitive stress must be avoided to lessen the build up of forces acting on the culprit structures so that healing can take place. In the long-term, this includes a host of educational opportunities that are specific to each individual.

Once a back patient, always a back patient. There must be commitment and development of daily habits that promote a healthy back. These habits include:

• Exercise specific to trunk muscles and improved fitness.
• Attention to posture at work and home.
• Mechanics of lifting and bending(squat).
• Sitting and Chair selection while relaxing or at work.
• Relaxation techniques to manage stress and pain.
• Fatigue avoidance strategies in static and dynamic activity.

There is no one way to treat back pain. In many cases it did not take a day or a week for your pain to manifest itself. Likewise, it will not take a day, a week, or even a month to restore your body and relieve your back pain.

Managing Back Pain Begins with Education

If you have questions regarding your back pain please leave a comment below and sign up for the Healthy Back & Healthy Habits.

Practicing for over 25 years, +Randy Bauer has treated a variety of surgical and non-surgical cases involving the spine(neck and back). From the 'stay-at-home-mom', the weekend warrior, the high school athlete, business person and entrepreneur, and high-level athlete, all have been treated with the same passion and expertise, addressing each with the desire to Get Better.

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