Have you had low back pain for a long time?
Sick and tired of constant niggles, back ache and sharp pain ‘shocks’?
Want to get back doing the things you love?
I have good news for you!......
There is a solution and you don’t have to keep suffering any longer.
Who’s the beacon of hope???
Your nervous system!!!
Research has shown that pain is driven by the nervous system and not driven by structure (ie all the funny things that you see on your X-rays and MRIs and that are hard to pronounce - facet joint degeneration, disc prolapses, spinal canal or foraminal stenosis, spondylosis etc).
Even more importantly, research has also shown that if you gradually load the body (ie stretch and strengthen), the nervous system adapts and allows you to do more! This will then help lessen your pain. Woohoo!!
All this is great news for people in pain that have been previously told that “There is nothing you can do” or “You’ll just have to manage it”! That is officially B-S!!! Science has now told us there is HEAPS of things that you can do to help get rid of your pain and fix your back.
I’m going to let you in on the ‘How to’ secrets:
Surprisingly, one of the most important things you can do to get better is to learn more about how pain works. Once you have more confidence in your body and realise what movements you can perform safely you then you are ‘out of the blocks’.
If you have had significant pain and are having trouble getting going, it is very important that you speak to a health professional who is knowledgeable about musculoskeletal injuries (bones, ligaments, muscles, tendons etc) as well as an expert in how pain works. You should be able to ask them any question about the injury and then they should be able to come back with an answer of all the things you CAN DO, not a list of all the things you can’t do. There is ALWAYS something that can be done if it is musculoskeletal pain! Don't accept 'No' as an answer.
The knowledgeable and qualified professional will then map out a clear plan for you as to what it’s going to take to get better. This will DEFINITELY include some form of exercise that gets you moving and starts to ‘free up’ the nervous system. You will likely have to do these exercises at home regularly in the early days to get things moving a little. The exercise should be difficult enough that you find it a little bit of a challenge (possibly mild discomfort) but not so much that it is gives you significant pain.
Over a period of time you will then need to gradually increase your mobility with stretching and strengthening exercises. As you start to gain more mobility and strength you will start to feel less pain, feel freer, stronger and very possibly happier!
The fancy term for building up what is termed your ‘load tolerance’ is graded exposure. Put simply, you gradually do more and your body slowly adapts and responds. It’s pretty common sense really when you think about it in real life…..You do more and you get stronger. You do less and you get weaker.
So now is definitely the time to take action and get out of pain for good. Just take these simple steps:
1. Start moving within your limits
2. Gradually increase it so that it is a bit of a challenge but not so much that it gives you extreme pain
3. Continue to gradually increase your movement and add variability and complexity as you improve
If you're having trouble getting started or need help along the way, make sure to contact us on (03) 5872 2221 and we'll be happy to make a time where one of our friendly physios will contact you to discuss what you can do to solve the problem for good!
If you want to get started on getting out of pain and back to your best life immediately, you can book online here.
Remember, it is possible to do what you love again, pain free!
Good luck and get to it - you can do this!
Yours in health,
Ben