Physical Therapy research has highlighted the fact that core strengthening helps people with back pain. In fact, daily exercise that focuses on the back help people with chronic problems. There are many types of core strengthening exercises but when the back hurts, exercises can hurt too. That’s when My PT will suggest alternative exercises to target muscle spasms, tight joints, poor posture, and delayed muscle activity. We specialize in helping people with painful backs.
We teach people how to engage the core muscles properly without making back pain worse. Some think that “no pain, no gain” applies to all aspects of life and it just isn’t true. Reducing pain actually improves the timing and recruitment of the core muscles to provide support to the spine and pelvis.
A significant influence on back pain is body mechanics. This is more than posture because it’s is moving in and out of postures while performing a task. That’s because muscles and ligaments have only so much tolerance to stress because a strain happens. An injured back will have a lower threshold for activity due to fatigue and impaired motor control.
In many cases, exercise and body mechanics are part of the treatment. Another significant Physical Therapy treatment is called Manual Therapy. This is when the PT applies techniques with their hands to a clients muscles and joints. We learned from research and residency training that Manual Therapy not only is effective in treating back pain it also enhances the outcomes when combined with exercise.
There are other options, too. Physical Therapy for back pain can include the use of Therapeutic Modalities. At My PT you will find Foot Orthotics, Percussion Massage, Kinesiology Taping, Cold Laser, and Electrical Stimulation. The benefit with these Therapeutic Modalities is selected case by case. There can be many options for some people with back pain, but there are reasons not to use any method called contraindications and we choose when to avoid certain procedures.
In summary, back pain is obviously a problem for many, actually 80% of people will experience back pain at some point in their lifetime. Physical therapy for back pain is an excellent option to reduce the pain with the recommendations from a PT which can include specific exercises like Core Strengthening, Manual Therapy, and Therapeutic Modalities.
My PT offers Custom Physical Therapy for back pain. We go further than fixing back pain and maintenance therapy for chronic back pain clients. My PT investigates the underlying cause of back pain to re-mediate the problem from the source. We believe this is at the heart of preventing back pain.