Back Clinic

Back pain, whether it is in the upper, middle or lower back affects 8 out of 10 people at some time during their lives. 1 Because the back supports all of the body’s weight, it is subject to large amounts of mechanical stress, which often leads to injury.

 

Common Causes

 

Back pain can occur from routine activities such as gardening, housework, reaching for an object, or even coughing. At work it can occur through lifting, pulling and even simply sitting at a computer reading. In fact it can be caused by any number of things, sometimes for no apparent reason.  

 

The most common causes of back pain include:

 

 

Poor posture

Muscle strains 

Ligament sprains

Disc problems

Sciatica

Arthritis

Muscle weakness

Stress

Pregnancy

Osteoporosis

 

Therapyroom1’s approach to treating back pain


We assess the cause and also the type of pain in order to determine the most effective treatment. 

In addition to your treatment, our therapists involve you in managing your back pain, this could be by re-training you in the way that you move, work or by prescribing specific rehabilitation exercises that you can perform independently. Our work with you  include:

 

  • Advice about early activity
  • Joint and soft tissue mobilisation
  • Stabilisation exercises
  • Re-educating you to change your body mechanics in order to improve things like joint movement
  • Stretching exercises
  • Ergonomic advice at home or in the workplace
  • Postural advice
  • Speedy referrals and appointments to other medical practitioners

 

1National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Handout on Health: Back Pain. NIH Publication No. 05-5282. September 2005.