Acute Episodes of Low Back Pain. What do i do?

The majority of us will experience an acute episode of lower back pain. Back pain is one of the most common reasons people see a doctor, osteopath or miss days at work. Even school-age children can have back pain. The vast majority of these cases will resolve within a few weeks with the correct management and exercises.

Acute lower back pain is usually caused by excess stresses and strains on the low back’s tissues, some causes known (long car rides, repetitive strain injury, trauma) and some unknown. As your lower back is essential to all movements in your body, pain in this area can often feel more severe than elsewhere.

The natural healing time for acute low back pain can be 4-6 weeks, and exercise is a key element of this. You will probably notice a tendency to stiffen up quickly, and immobility can contribute to make you stiffer and weaker.

Motion is lotion.

This is one of my favourite sayings in the clinic. Moving within a pain-free range to “lubricate” your stiff joints. Even if that motion is very minimal, it is still very beneficial. So if you find yourself sitting, lying, and walking for short periods of time and move every 20 minutes!

Once the initial pain starts to ease a little, you need to increase your movement with gentle exercise. These will be given to you by your practitioner and are often best done little and often throughout the day.

Eventually, these exercises need to be progressed to become more challenging. Most people will benefit from starting a regular general exercise routine such as running, swimming, gym or cycling.

Book in with your local Osteopath to see what is contributing to your low back pain and what you can do about it.