Do any of these describe your low back problem?
- Pain while sitting
- Pain while moving from sitting to standing
- Pain initially with first few steps that goes away with walking
- Pain in the morning
- Pain when you cough or sneeze
- Pain when you bend forward to tie shoes or reach to lift objects
- Pain or numbness through the butt, hip or leg that is worse with sitting or bending forward
Here is a common cause:
- A disc in your low back may be out of place due to injury, overuse, and/or the aging process. This is called mechanical lower back derangement.
- This movement of your disc, or derangement, causes pressure on your nerves as they exit your spine (see illustration). This pressure can result in pain, numbness, and/or weakness into the buttocks and legs.
How Physical Therapy Can Help
- Our therapists are specially trained in McKenzie Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT) for low back pain. This includes evaluation, prescription and application of specific exercises and manual therapy techniques
- The first goal of therapy is to reduce and abolish any pain or numbness that is radiating from the back down the leg
- Once leg symptoms are abolished, focus shifts to a progression of exercises and any manual therapy necessary to abolish back pain
- Receiving education on proper posture and how to move through daily activities pain free is essential to solving the source of the problem
- An average course of treatment is 8 therapy visits; a range of 4-10 visits is possible depending on the patient’s work ethic and the severity of their condition
If this sounds like you, we’d love to teach you how to eliminate your back pain and stay active! Talk to your doctor today, and request a referral to see us for physical therapy.
Looking for a one-stop shop? Come see Dr. Carlson and see us for your physical therapy, too!