3 Common Low Back Pain Mistakes
Mistake 1: Not doing anything.
This is one of the most common mistakes that I see in clinical practice as a physical therapist (physiotherapist) in Toronto working with people to relieve their low back pain.
People ignore their pain for too long, hoping that it will just go away. In most cases, simple mechanical low back pain will resolve within a couple weeks.
But sometimes, it just doesn’t work out that way.
It’s incredible the number of times I’ve had clients come in and tell me that they’ve had four, five, six or more episodes of low back pain, lasting for weeks on end, each one getting worse. Or 10, 15, 20 years of chronic low back pain without effective treatment.
Where do you draw the line? When do you say enough is enough?
So if it doesn’t sort itself out, it’s time to take immediate action.
There are solutions out there, but they aren’t going to find themselves.
Go see your local physical therapist ASAP for diagnosis and treatment and take charge of your health.
Mistake 2: Masking the symptoms.
Another very common mistake I see with many low back pain sufferers is that they mask the symptoms of the injury without treating the root cause of the pain.
Think about all those times that you may have popped the Tylenol or Advil to “ride out the pain”. Or how about all those times that you just slapped on an ice pack or heating pad to soothe those aching back muscles?
Did any those interventions actually solve the problem or did they just let you mask the symptoms?
Don’t get me wrong. There isn’t anything wrong with dealing with your low back pain symptoms with the above “treatments”, as long as you’re also looking at removing the cause of the pain. It’s not good enough to just treat the source of the pain (the tissues that are irritated-the ligaments, muscles, nerve roots, facets etc), you need to figure out WHY those tissues are getting irritated and remove that “why“.
Mistake 3: Not moving.
A few days of rest at the onset of acute injury may be indicated and helpful. However, many people often take a few days of rest to mean stop moving completely and protect the back at all costs. In fact, back in the day, complete bed rest was the most often prescribed treatment.
Inviting but not always the best idea.
Now I can understand why you wouldn’t want to aggravate those injured tissues and set off another painful episode of low back pain. But as well-intentioned as this may be, it could actually weaken your back further and perpetuate your pain.
Undertaking the proper progression of movement based exercise could be just what you need to get pain free and stay that way. Once again, go see your qualified health professional to learn how to optimize your movements or you can check out some of the best exercises to relieve low back pain here.
And there you have it. Three common low back pain mistakes that keep you in pain.
To your low back pain solution.
Dev Chengkalath
February 24th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Before I began my Occupational Therapy Program of study I was unaware how common it is for those who are experiencing this sort of pain to simply mask the symptoms rather than seek professional help. Thanks for putting up this warning to others.