Back Pain: These Are The Red Flags

Last week a client came in saying that his back was twingy and that he'd almost canceled his workout.

Turned out, his hip flexors were tight and once we addressed that issue, he blew the lid off a power workout--his back was better after exercising!

​

​

What's the best way to deal with back pain?

​

A recent conversation between 2 doctors in Medscape brought up some fascinating points.

1) People often think that if they have back pain they shouldn't exercise. "No. For back pain, early activity and exercise are great. Patients... believe that if they are experiencing pain, it's facilitating more damage, which is not necessarily the case."

2) The goal of medicating the pain is to facilitate sleeping and movement--not to make the pain go away. 😳

"One of the goals of treatment is symptom relief to the extent that we're able to achieve. We're not expecting the pain to go to zero. That just doesn't happen....We want them sleeping. We want them to be able to tolerate movement....most therapy for back pain doesn't involve medications. It involves active movement, so we have to find movement that the patient enjoys doing.."

How do you know when back pain is serious?

There are certain "red flags" that could signal a need to take a closer look with testing.

​

Obviously, trauma and a history of cancer require further investigation

Words matter

SO many clients have told me anxiously, "They say I have degenerative disc disease...."

The doctors made the point that patients are often horrified to hear words like "degenerative disc disease" when "wear and tear" or "typical changes with age" describe the condition without making it sound like we have a dread disease.

Simply using less serious sounding terms like "back strain" has been shown to lead to fewer invasive procedures! 😲😲😲

​

We hear so many scary stories about back pain and surgeries that it's natural to be unnerved by a cranky back. Eighty per cent of us will have back pain at some time and it's unlikely to be serious.

Isn't it great to know that the best thing you can do is keep moving?!

Oh, and figure out what triggered it. It could be how you sit or walk or stand or from lifting something incorrectly.

​

If you need to, get a second set of eyes to watch you move. Sometimes a spouse can recognize back-offending behaviors in an instant!