Back pain is a common musculoskeletal condition characterised by discomfort, pain, or stiffness in the area of the back. It can vary in intensity, location, and duration, and it is one of the leading causes of disability and missed work days worldwide. It is estimated that about 80% of people will experience back pain at some point during their lifetime.
Common causes of back pain include:
- Muscle Strains/Muscle Spasms
- Bulging or Herniated Discs,
- Osteoarthritis (aka spondylosis)
- Joint Sprain
- Spinal stenosis
- Scoliosis
Diagnosis is made using a thorough series of movement tests and assessments to identify dysfunctions and movement impairments that may contribute to your back pain and functional limitations. This standardised step by step screening tool allows our practitioners to differentiate between mobility and stability problems and guides them in developing targeted treatment plans. We look globally at your movement, patterns such as bending, squatting, reaching, and rotating looking for asymmetries and compensations. We also recognise that dysfunction in one area can influence other areas of the body, therefore we will also look at things such as hip mobility and trunk stability and how that contributes to your pain.
Your treatment plan will involve firstly getting you to become aware of your dysfunctional movement patterns, resetting those dysfunctions with various manual therapy techniques and or exercises, then reinforcing healthy functional movement patterns so that they become an unconscious way of operating. Once we have reinforced the healthy movement patterns we give our patients the opportunity to learn how to train themselves effectively so that they can move pain free for life.