Low Back Pain Dorking
Lower back pain can make life extremely difficult to manage. Your Osteopath remembers what it feels like, having had chronic back pain for ten years post spinal surgery (in the days before training as an Osteopath!).
Most lower back pain isn't caused by a serious injury or disease
Instead, it develops because of how your back, pelvis and the rest of your body move and function together.
In public healthcare, this is diagnosed as "mechanical low back pain." It covers a huge range of possible problems. As a result, many people receive the same general advice and exercises regardless of what is actually causing their pain.
For some people, that's enough. But if your symptoms keep returning, don't improve, or seem to be triggered by specific activities, a more individualised approach is often needed.
Rather than simply identifying where the pain is, we aim to understand why it's there in the first place.
During your assessment, we'll identify which tissues are producing your pain, whether that's a muscle, ligament, spinal joint or disc. We treat these painful structures as the symptom, not the root cause.
We then assess how your entire body moves to understand why those tissues are being overloaded. This might involve stiffness in one area, weakness or poor control in another, altered movement patterns, previous injuries, or even the way your hips, feet or upper back are functioning.
By identifying and addressing these underlying factors, treatment becomes more targeted, helping to relieve pain while reducing the likelihood of it returning.
Back Pain Fun Facts
One of the most influential back pain research studies took 3,000 people with no back pain and gave them all an MRI : Brinjikji et al. (2015) systematic review. Here are some of the findings:
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Around 1 in 10 10-year-olds already show signs of disc changes, about 1 in 3 20-year-olds, half of 40-year-olds, and more than 8 in 10 80-year-olds have a bulging disc despite having no back pain.
This doesn't mean disc bulges never cause pain, they certainly can.
It means that findings such as:
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bulging disc, disc tears, disc degeneration
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"wear and tear", osteoarthritis, spinal degeneration, spondylosis
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facet joint degeneration
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or any other structural finding on an MRI
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does not automatically explain someone's symptoms
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doesn't always match the severity of pain.
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are often a part of normal ageing and unassociated with pain
Someone with a "perfect" MRI can have severe back pain, while someone with several degenerative changes may have none at all.
A scan shows what your spine looks like, not necessarily what's causing your pain.
This is why treatment should be based on you, not just your scan.
Common Back Pain Symptoms
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back ache when sitting down
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back pain when standing up or turning over in bed
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sharp back pain during movements (putting on socks or shoes, getting in and out of a car)
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back pain when coughing or sneezing
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back pain that refers to the buttock or down the leg: "Sciatica"
Back Pain Advice
While the following general advice helps take excess pressure of your spine and low back, if you are reading this page, chances are its not going to be enough to solve your issue, and does not replace the need to seek individualised medical advice:
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back sleepers: sleep with a pillow under your knees
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side sleepers: sleep with a thick pillow between your thighs
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front sleepers: be aware this position puts loads of excess pressure on your neck and back!
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take half hourly breaks when seated (even if its just standing for half a minute)
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use lumbar support or cushion to support the natural curve in your lower back when seated for more than half an hour
Weather you're suffering from a sudden acute back pain, or a persistent, recurring back pain, do not suffer unneccassarily in pain - we are here to support & guide you through recovery