8 Things To Consider When Experiencing Lower Back Pain

Lower back pain, especially if chronic (lasting greater than 3 months) can alter an individuals quality of life and change who they are as a person.

Now you have to think about how you’re going to bend over to pick up a bag. How long you’re going to tolerate sitting in this 3 hour car ride to NYC. The pain of working through your demanding job and having to modify your workouts or maybe stop working out completely (which none of us want to do when we know the gym is a great place to improve our physical and mental health).

I want you consider these thoughts if you’re experiencing lower back pain or the next time you do (hopefully you don’t though!):

1) Pain is a signal for change and if we just tolerate the pain and let it linger on, it will only take longer to truly address it (Please see a medical professional if you’ve been dealing with lower back pain more than 2 weeks).

2) When working with a medical professional to address your lower back pain, ask questions to learn about what is going on and what the plan is going forward to help you get back to where you want to be. There’s nothing worse than being in pain, not knowing what is going on and not having a plan.

3) Imaging (X-ray, MRI) is an important, but isn’t always needed. We age on the outside (wrinkles, gray hair, etc.) and we age on the inside. We should expect to see some changes within a normal range.

4) You should work with a healthcare provider to help you address the root cause/s of why you’re experiencing lower back pain. It’s one thing to calm down the pain, it’s another thing to actually address why the pain is happening.

5) If your medical provider isn’t asking and considering what your goals are, then the plan won’t be specific to you. Find a medical provider who wants to know what your number one goal is in rehab.

6) Consistent reassessments throughout your recovery is key to understand how you are progressing or not progressing and appropriate adjustments that need to be made.

7) Once you’re out of pain, you need to build capacity in the neuromusculoskeletal system to buffer stressors and make sure this never happens to you again. You do this by training!

8) Remember, getting a shot and thinking you are pain-free is like getting a loan and thinking you have money. Shots can provide a opportunity to tolerate more movement and make progress within rehab but it isn’t the cure.

I hope you have a great week moving well and moving often.

Griffin Kelly PT, DPT, CFSC