Low Back Injuries
At a glance – We successfully rehabilitate;
- Acute pain
- Lumbar spine disc sprains and bulges
- Facet joint sprains and strains
- Sacroiliac pain
- Muscular pulls and tears
- Stiffness
- Pain due to scoliosis/lordosis (curves of the spine)
- Spondylosis – Arthritis of the spine
- Spondylolisthesis
- Stress fractures
- Pregnancy low back pain
- Chronic pain
- Post operative care
Melbourne’s Trusted Physiotherapy for Back Pain
Don’t let back pain get in your way any longer.
Injuries to the lower back or lumbar spine are common with some sources reporting up to 85% of the general population experiencing at least one episode in their adult life.
Our specialised approach will help you get through your episode combining effective hands on treatment, exercise rehabilitation and prevention plans for long-term relief. Be sure to get in touch with our experts to understand how we can assist with any pains that you may be experiencing.
How do I know I need physio for my back pain?
There are a number of telltale signs that may indicate the need for physiotherapy. If you have experienced the following, please reach out to one of our professionals to start your treatment plan.
- Pain can be constant, intermittent or positional.
- Pain can be in the area between ribs and pelvis, often associated with sciatica
- Pain down one or both legs
- Occurs with sudden movement (lifting) or over time with static postures (sitting)
- Aching, sharp or stabbing pain either centrally or one sided
- Stiffness which reduces movement especially bending and twisting
- Occasionally can feel spasm that pulls you up and makes you reluctant to move
- Can interrupt / interfere with sleep.
There are many different types of low back injury with a variety of causes. These include;
- Disc injuries such as a disc bulge which can make sitting and bending forward to put on shoes difficult and painful.
- Ligament sprains such as those to the lumbar facet joints and muscle strains which can cause one sided pain with walking, jumping and running.
- Arthritis and spinal degeneration of the lumbar vertebrae due to wear and tear which can make getting out of a chair or getting out of bed difficult and painful.
- Changes to the curve of your spine such as scoliosis or lordosis which may be congenital (from birth) but when associated with acute pain can be due to trauma/injury or poor posture with ongoing chronic pain.
- Stress fractures of the lumbar vertebrae due to repetitive excessive load which we see with our sportsmen and women more common with cricketers, bowlers and rowers.
- There are less common causes including low back pain due to Rheumatoid Arthritis, Inflammatory Diseases such as Ankylosing Spondylitis, Osteoporosis and some Cancers.
Most low back pain causes can be categorised into;
- Errant movement – quick bending or twisting movements
- Prolonged positions – sitting or bending forward for too long and standing slumped for too long.
- Poor ergonomics / Work styles – In the Melbourne CBD, Elizabeth Street Physiotherapy has seen an increasing trend of low back pain due to poor posture. Increasing demands, long sitting times and advanced technology that allows us to move less, coupled with ergonomic chairs that are poorly utilised, not understood and rarely changed creates a common recipe for lower back problems.
Our expert Physiotherapists and Manipulative Physiotherapist will provide you with a careful diagnosis and explanation of your problem. We feel that if you have a better understanding of your pain then you can modify activities and improve potential problem areas such as sitting or lying positions. To resolve your pain we use manipulation, mobilization, acupuncture/dry needling, massage, heat and cold modalities, stretching, along with Pilates and home exercise programs that are easy to follow. Your pain will be managed, relieved and rehabilitated.
Get in touch for your treatment plan!
Our Physiotherapists and Manipulative Physiotherapist based in the Melbourne CBD will provide you with the services and education to minimize and prevent further injury. Need an appointment? You can reach us by calling (03) 9670 3996 or email info@elizabethphysio.com.au
Post Graduate Research – Lumbar Spine
Andrew Mitchell is the Practice Principle and is a Manipulative Physiotherapist.
His post graduate research papers included;
Acute Vs Chronic Pain : A study of muscle control in low back pain patients
The paper looked specifically at different muscle conditioning approaches to different stages of low back pain with the outcome that endurance style of exercises similar to that used in Pilates was most effective in changing pain levels.
Low Back Pain in the Athlete
The paper looked at the biomechanics of how certain types of movement patterns in a sport were instrumental in causing certain low back injuries and how these patterns could be predictors utilised for prevention and management of low back pain injury.