Month: April 2025

Why do most practitioners treat the symptoms of back pain and not the underlying cause?

It is what we are taught at university. Regardless of whether you are a physio, chiro, osteo, myo, massage therapist you are trained to accurately diagnose the source of lower back pain, then trained in a unique (to your modality) set of techniques to alleviate the lower back symptoms.

There are two sides to chronic lower back pain

1. Tight and restricted tissues that cause pain (symptoms)
2. Weakened postural muscles that comprise the structures of the lower back (underlying cause)

The problem with being solely trained as a practitioner is that years of conditioning and focus on the symptoms makes you blindsighted to the true underlying cause of back pain

Think about it:

• A massage therapist or myotherapist massages soft tissues
• A chiropractor and osteopath manipulate joints.

It is their job! When back pain sufferers come along, they execute their years of training and clinical experience, focusing on freeing the pain and restriction present in the lower back.

This works fine for the acute back pain sufferers (less than 3 months), however for the chronic back pain sufferer (more than 3 months) all this results in, is short term temporary relief from their pain. The pattern continues – treatment – patient feels better for hours/ days after treatment – pain returns – repeat process.

The problem for the practitioner and more importantly the chronic lower back pain patient is that practitioners are not taught how to address patients who do not respond to their modalities techniques.

From experience the best health care practitioners are the ones who have had a particular condition themselves, exhausted all efforts within their modalities philosophy to fix themselves only to turn to alternative solutions. This leads to the practitioner striving to create a solution to their condition and forces them to think/ explore outside the box.

There are many terrific stories of health care practitioners who have gone on such journeys, healed their bodies then shifted their focus to helping chronic patients do the same. Back pain is no different, there are great books that go into such stories and more importantly they provide a how to – process to fix chronic back pain. Not surprisingly all such books mention that more needs to be done that just standard physio, chiro, massage, with the attention focused around restoring strength and symmetry to the body.

If you are suffering from chronic lower back pain and have tried many different modalities and practitioners without a long term solution to your pain, don’t be alarmed, you are not alone. Search for books and success stories from practitioners who have fixed their own back pain and follow their guidance. Please search through our website to find articles from such authors.

How To Strengthen Your Back

If you have been suffering from chronic lower back pain, you would feel weak, unsupported and unbalanced. What leads to chronic back pain is a lack of synergy with all of your muscles, especially the ones designed to support your back when you move and lift objects. As your back pain sets in, you brace yourself further to compensate for the weakness, however now more so to prevent pain when moving and lifting. The pattern worsens, certain muscles take over and become more dominant in a bid to protect the lower back, whilst other muscles integral to the support of the lower back become weak and atrophied.

Chronic back pain is more than just weakness to the lower back muscles. Many long term sufferers feel weak and attempt to strengthen their back only to make their lower back pain symptoms even worse.

The key to strengthening your back is to strengthen the muscles that support your back through functional compound movements. The key is to maintain correct and fluent movement throughout the exercise and to keep rep ranges low to avoid fatigue to an already weakened posture. Most people lack the patience to stick with a dedicated program to restore postural symmetry to their body. They either start too heavy and pull up sore and cease the program or they expect instant relief from their pain and give up a few short weeks into the program.

The key to strengthening your back is consistency and slow steady incremental increase to the resistance. Stay consistent, maintain fluid movement, keep increasing the resistance as the exercise becomes easier and the results will come.

Functional movements are difficult to master, so if you are going to attempt them by yourself then you are going to have to be patient. There is terrific self help available on the internet, with fitness instructors showing you how to master functional movements. If you have the resources available seek out a competent and experienced strength and conditioning coach to take you from A to B.

If you are suffering from chronic back pain, strengthening your back and the muscles that support your back is hands down the most effective way to end your back pain and ensure it never returns. You may also contact our back massage clinic in RIchmond.

Some people suffering from chronic back pain are so tight and restricted through their hips and lower back region that no matter how much practice they are not able to get their body into the positions required to carry out functional movements. If you fall under this category, do not give up hoe of permanently ending your back pain, you just need to be more resourceful. You will need to combine deep tissue therapy to your hips and lower back with functional movements. The most effective way is to go for a deep tissue treatment to open your hips and lower back, then attempt functional movements in the proceeding days when the tenderness has worn off, however whilst the freedom of movement from the therapy is still present.

What causes the lower back to go into spasm?

What causes back spasm

Lower back injuries are widely misunderstood in the health industry amongst doctors, practitioners even specialists. Is it any wonder that when patients injure their back, when their back goes into painful spasm they are told conflicting information by almost each and every doctor and practitioner they visit seeking quality advice and help.

In this article our aim is to provide clarity over the root underlying cause for why the lower back goes into spasm so people are informed and can prevent recurrences.

A lower back spasm is a protective mechanism designed to prevent further damage to the spine and intervertebral structures. When too great a load is placed on the lower back, due to overuse, lack of rest or most commonly due to postural weaknesses that have accumulated over a period of time.

Let’s look at the swelling that occurs post spraining an ankle and the similarities of a lower back spasm.

When you roll your ankle, the area swells for two main reasons:

1. Inflammatory cells are rushing to the ankle joint to commence the healing process
2. The extra fluid braces the ankle joint preventing movement that could do further damage.

When your lower back spasms:

1. An unconscious contraction of the lower back and gluteal muscles brace the lower back region preventing movement that could do further damage.
2. In the event of damage to the disc or facet joints, inflammatory cells with rush to the area to commence the healing process.

The problem with a lower back spasms is that, unlike an ankle where you can sit and rest it or walk on crutches, it is very difficult to find a pain free position.

A lower back spasm will on average last for 2-3 days, however can drag out over a 2-3 week period when damage to the disc has occurred, or when neural pathways are interfered with. The pain gradually subsides as the muscles ease from their painful contracted state. Most people are left with a residual discomfort that typically responds to massage, physiotherapy and chiropractic manipulation in the weeks that follow.

 If you experience a one off lower back spasm as a result of over fatiguing your back, seek treatment initially (although pain relief results will be limited during the spasm). Rest through the spasm then continue treatment to alleviate residual pain.

If you are experiencing repeat spasms, it is imperative to seek treatment that addresses the underlying cause of why your body is going into protection mode. Postural weaknesses and imbalances need to be addressed to ensure your lower back and hips are not carrying the load to the point of fatigue. Good quality postural strength work will make you feel much stronger and supported throughout the day.  A strong and balanced posture will remove the vulnerable feeling that you could experience another spasm at any time.