Is Low Back Pain overtreated?

By Dr. Amanda Nguyen, PT ,DPT, at WWS Physical Therapy & Vestibular Rehabilitation

Low back pain is a popular diagnosis that comes into our clinic to get treated. The pain can be caused by something straining you did like lifting something heavy, or can be something that was gradually happening over time like sitting at a desk. As a physical therapist, I am able to evaluate the patient and figure out what the culprits are that can be contributing to your pain. Then I can offer exercises to reduce your back pain and modifications to your personal and work life to help prevent it from happening again. It is easy to offer advice to the patient, but sometimes it is not easy to be the patient.

About 3 weeks ago, I experienced what many of my patients come into the clinic: back pain. I do not know what exactly caused it, but I believe it was when I was running. I did not fall or twist anything. I did not feel pain instantly. I just felt a normal soreness in my back, which I thought was because I have not run in a few days. However, my soreness persisted and it was constant over the next few days. I had difficulty bending over, sitting in the car for about 30 minutes, and performing components of doing my job which is very active as you can imagine. The pain even started to go down my left leg behind my knee, or as it is commonly known as sciatica.

Luckily, I know a few physical therapists and they were able to evaluate me. They recommended exercises for me to perform, and worked on me to reduce my pain. I was very compliant with my exercises. I did them every hour every day, was very cognisant about my posture, used a lumbar roll to assist with my posture, and used proper lifting techniques with my core engaged. Less than 2 weeks of doing my exercises and being aware of my movements, I am able to bend over now and sit in my car with very little difficulty and pain. In addition, I no longer have pain that goes down my leg.  

When your pain is acute or just beginning, it is better to seek a medical professional evaluation as soon as you can so you can attack this problem. The sooner you address it, the faster your pain will calm down and you can return to your normal activities. This principle does not just apply to the low back; it can be applied to knee, hip, shoulder as well as dizziness!

I got to experience first hand what physical therapy can do for acute onset of back pain. If you’re reading this and experience some sort of pain, do not wait for the pain to go away on its own. Contact your primary care doctor and schedule an appointment at WWSPT right away! 215.489.3234