Back Pain

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Back pain normally gets better within a few weeks. During this time, it is important that you stay active. It isn’t always possible to identify exactly what has caused your back pain but it is very rare that any structural damage has occurred.

What causes back pain?

Stiff joints and tight muscles are the most common culprits when it comes to establishing the source of someone’s pain. Often this is because someone doesn’t move regularly enough or because of a new or unaccustomed activity that the body temporarily objects to!

Sometimes there are specific causes for back pain, especially when there is leg pain, pins and needles or numbness too. This can be caused by irritation or compression of the nerves in the back you might know this as sciatica. 

Pain can be scary, and it is natural to want to ‘protect’ your back by avoiding movement, but this can compound a problem. Pain leads to less movement which leads to stiffness and weakness which leads to more pain. That is why we try to encourage people to remain as active as possible.

Your emotional wellness can also your affect pain. If you are stressed, low in mood or not sleeping well your pain will be greater. Psychological factors can turn up the volume on your pain but once you have been assessed and we are confident that it is not a serious problem, we can teach you how to turn down the dial. It is important to know that all pain is 100 per cent real and never ‘all in your head’, even when factors like stress or mood are involved.