The Top Three Reasons Your Back Pain Keeps Coming Back Even After Years of Treatment
One of the most common questions we get asked is ‘Why does my back pain always come back?’. Most people that come into our clinic have tried chiropractic, physical therapy, massage, and/or acupuncture. All of which provided some symptomatic relief during the course of therapy - but didn’t seem to keep it from coming back the minute they stopped. They’re frustrated because they’ve already spent a good amount of time, energy and money on ‘solutions’ to their back pain - only for the pain to come back a few weeks later and they don’t want to make the same mistake again.
In this article we discuss the top three reasons your back pain keeps coming back…eve after years of treatment and therapy.
1) You’re Moving Wrong
The term ‘Movement Pattern’ refers to how we coordinate movements to perform basic tasks. Walking, bending, sitting, lifting are all examples of movement patterns we use everyday. Hours of sitting at a desk can alter these movement patterns and cause us to put more stress on the low back, No amount of therapy will ‘fix’ you if you continue to move wrong. Your body can heal, but if you keep ‘picking the scab’ your pain will always come back.
What To Do: Learn and practice basic movement patterning. Hinging, lifting, squatting are movements that we perform on a daily basis (even when we’re not exercises) and building a solid understanding of what movements should look (and FEEL) like
The goal should be to not only understand’ these movement from a conceptual level - but practice and repeat them so much they happen automatically. So the next time you accidently drop something - you immediately default into a SAFE position. I HIGHLY recommend seeing a movement expert, like those employed in our office, to make sure you’re ready and able to start on that new exercise program you’re so excited about!
2) You’re Not Strong Enough
The unfortunate truth is that we lose strength as we age. With no plan to maintain and/or build strength, what used to be so easy for us starts to . And what that means for low back pain is that when our bodies aren’t strong enough to handle our favorite activities - those forces will go to our joints
What to Do: Add strength training to your routine. Building the strength necessary not only takes the load off of our low back - but it improves confidence in our body’s ability to handle our favorite activities - so we can get back to ENJOYING them.
3) You’re Too Stiff In Certain Areas of the Body
Did you know that missing ankle range of motion can contribute to chronic low back pain? Or that a tight upper back can lead to low back injuries? It’s true. Your body is incredibly smart. So much so that when we lack full range of motion in certain areas of the body it will compensate by altering our movement patterns or sacrificing our low back stability to achieve the movement we’re attempting.
What to Do: Get assessed by a movement expert. It’s important to know WHERE we lack this mobility so we can correct it. And you wont be able to find that on YouTube or Instagram. There are ways to measure and improve mobility to be sure we have the ability to properly brace and load our low backs and keep your pain from coming back
At Evolve Performance Healthcare - our interest is in helping you SOLVE your back pain - not simply live with it for another 5, 10, 20 years. We specialize in putting 100% customized programs together that combine the benefits of full body chiropractic care, sports medicine therapies, and progressive movement and strength programs to help you stay active, strong, and able to perform all your favorite activities - for years to come!
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