Why Is My Back Pain Not Getting Any Better
Back pain can be stubborn at the best of times and resolving it can prove difficult if you are making simple mistakes at the first instance. Over the years in clinical practice, and more recently with the program there are two issues that come up time and time again that pose real barriers to resolving lower back pain for the long term.
Back pain not getting better with treatment
Firstly, when we think about having treatments, it is often the case that there is an expectation that the back pain will be fixed. This is somewhat similar to getting the plumber to “fix” your sink. The problem with this expectation when compared with your back pain is that there is a fundamental assumption that you’re not putting things down the sink that shouldn’t go down there. In this example, it’s a lesson that is rather simple and easy to learn once and not do again. If however we ignored the plumbers advice, or they didn’t give us any tips, we might find that the sink isn’t “fixed” and instead keeps breaking.
When it comes to your body and your lower back specifically, there are 168 hours every week. This provides ample time for practices and activities to take place that are akin to putting food or paper down the plughole in the previous example. Things that are being done on a daily basis, some unbeknownst to us, that are making our back pain worse. Sometimes it’s just that these activities are impediments to recovery. The fact remains, even if you’ve the financial circumstances to afford weekly treatments for years on end, there is only so much 1 hour of the greatest treatment can do to offset the other 167 hours.
It is equally unlikely that your back pain treatment provider, whatever profession they might be, will have the capacity, time or foresight to be able to steer your clear of all these obstacles. And so rehabilitation and education becomes important.
You must have some mens of continuing to compliment the good work being done in your treatments at home. Including robust rehabilitation as well as activity modification is an essential part of dealing with back pain otherwise quotes like the below become all too familiar.
“I’ve tried 7 different treatments but they never work and only give me short term relief”
Sheets of exercises don’t help lower back pain
When it comes to exercises, one of the experiences we had clinically was specifically with exercise skill. It’s important to note this isn’t all the time, but it is relevant in a significant number of cases. We might work with a patient and get the exercise technique correct, then review a week or so later to find that there are significant errors with technique that have crept in. There is a weekly revision process to ensure correct technique, when it comes to sheets of exercises, this is even worse. Pictures simply cannot convey the necessary information concisely enough and you can’t see what the exercises look like each time you go to do them.
Video programs on the other hand, such as Back In Shape, offer the best of both worlds. You can check the videos every day, multiple times if necessary, from home like the exercise sheet. Additionally, you’re getting the clinician guidance through the video on a daily basis rather than once in a blue moon in a clinical appointment. Of course, this does put the onus on you to work diligently when pursuing this course.
Making sure your back pain has the best odds for recovery
In our experience the best option here, especially if you don’t have the means to have multiple clinical appointments a week, is the following. A full video based program where you’re able to regularly watch how your back exercises should be done, coupled with the ability to watch videos on variations and trouble shooting. But there’s more, having the ability to upload recordings and get expert feedback and comment at regular intervals allows for all the benefits of daily clinical input to be present without the extreme financial implications!
Responses