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Chronic low back pain & sciatica

Are you not able to continue your cherished hobbies or everyday activities because of sharp pain in your back when you move? Is sciatica causing pain to radiate down your legs? With the help of Dr. Q, you can get to the root of your symptoms and get back to doing what you love quicker and easier. Come to our Roswell GA clinic and get the healing you deserve! Let’s kick that sciatica and back pain!

Here is everything you need to know about chronic low back pain, what causes it, and the best way to treat it

What is chronic low back pain?

If you are in Roswell Ga, and have chronic low back pain, you are not alone. At any given time, about 25% of people in the United States report having low back pain within the past 3 months. In most cases, low back pain is mild and disappears on its own. For some people, back pain can return or hang on, leading to a decrease in quality of life or even to disability.
If your low back pain is accompanied by the following symptoms, you should visit your local emergency department immediately:
  • Loss of bowel or bladder control
  • Numbness in the groin or inner thigh
These symptoms might indicate a condition called “cauda equina syndrome,” in which nerves at the end of the spinal cord that control bowel and bladder function are being squeezed.

What are the common causes of chronic low back pain?

  • Misdiagnosed and root cause not solved
  • Severe degenerative disc disease
  • SevSevere arthritis
  • Weak low back and hip muscles
  • Lack of hip range of motion
  • Poor biomechanics

Where does it hurt?

In most cases of chronic low back, the patient will report of a dull ache to sharp pain across the whole low back area. They will report the pain going across their whole low back area which may get worse with certain activities. Sometimes, they will have associated glute pain, hip problems and leg pain. Usually something is missed and the root cause has not truly been solved. This is why the pain has become chronic and why the patient has failed other treatment options. Because of this, it’s possible to feel pain in other parts of your body. This is called referred pain. Understanding the root cause of your pain is fundamental to treating your pain in the long run & will decrease your dependence on painkillers or treatment that only addresses the symptoms.

What are common symptoms of chronic low back pain?

The symptoms of low back pain vary a great deal. Your pain might be dull, burning, or sharp. You might feel it at a single point or over a broad area. It might be accompanied by muscle spasms or stiffness. Sometimes, it might spread into 1 or both legs.There are 3 different types of low back pain:
  • Acute – pain lasting less than 3 months
  • Recurrent – acute symptoms come back
  • Chronic – pain lasting longer than 3 months
Most people who have an episode of acute pain will have at least 1 recurrence. While the actual cause of low back pain isn’t often known, symptoms usually resolve on their own. Psychosocial factors, such as self-confidence and a perceived ability to cope with disability, have been shown to be predictors of who might not recover from low back pain as expected. We used to believe the cause of low back pain was related directly to the tissues of our body, but are now understanding the condition to be more complex.
Although low back pain is rarely serious or life threatening, there are several conditions that may be related to your low back pain, such as:
  • Degenerative disk disease
  • Lumbar spinal stenosis
  • Fractures
  • Herniated disk
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Osteoporosis
  • Tumors of the spine
While we used to believe the above list contributed directly to low back pain, research has shown these conditions are also present in people without any pain (asymptomatic).

Learn how to get rid of that low back pain!

We’ll show you:

  • The most common cases of low back pain
  • How some low back pain can be commonly misdiagnosed
  • How to tell what type of low back pain you have
  • Self treatment that you can try at home

Fill out for your FREE back pain relief movements!

Can back pain be treated?

Yes, chronic low back pain can be treated and with great results. Even better, many times it can be treated conservatively without needing injections, pain medications, or surgeries if you can actually solve the root cause of your problem. The key to treatment is to solve the root cause of your pain so you can get the best results and a long-term outcome.
Some root causes of chronic low back pain can be:
  • A decreased mid back range of motion
  • Poor posture in sitting
  • Lack of hip range of motion
  • Weak hip and glute muscles
  • Poor lifting biomechanics
  • Overloading low back area
  • Tight low back and hip joints
  • Poor biomechanics at work
  • Too much sitting
  • Developing fear of pain and movement

Where are you in this process?

01

Back pain seems to never go away and people believe they “just have to live with it:

02

The pain becomes too intense and quality of life & sleep suffer

03

At this time, many people believe that surgery is the only option

04

An expensive surgery is performed, and the rehab is a long and painful process

05

Hopefully the surgery was successful, but many times people still have lingering issues
If you have failed multiple treatment approaches already, your clinician missed the real root cause of your pain and was just chasing the symptoms. The pain or symptom is the effect, not the cause. What do I mean by this? Say your fire alarm goes off in your house. Its purpose is to protect you and make you aware that something is wrong, i.e., that there is a fire in your house. The “alarm” is like your pain (your body’s way of telling you something is wrong) and the “fire” is the root cause. When the fire alarm goes off, you don’t run upstairs and just turn it off, right? You run through the house with the fire extinguisher, trying to find the room where the fire is at. You try to find out what caused the alarm to go off so you can put it out. Once the fire is out, then the fire alarm can go off. Solve the “root” cause of your pain, and then the pain (“the effect”) eventually goes away.
Additionally, there is a common root cause which many clinicians misdiagnose. They treat the low back pain with a cookie cutter approach, hoping it will work and treat it as a simple muscle problem. They tend to rely on stretching, ultrasound, massage, and focus treatment directly on the low back area. However, often the root cause is missed and the symptoms return. If you have failed multiple low back treatments and still have low back pain, then maybe it’s not a low back problem? Hmmm. Maybe the root cause in the hips! So many healthcare clinicians treat pain like this and thus show poor treatment outcomes which results in the pain coming back. Why? They missed the root cause of your low back pain. This is also the case when patients turn to injections, nerve blocks and other surgeries which are still not effective because the actual problem still is not solved, their treatment was just chasing the pain.
The first step in treatment is to identify the root cause of your pain. A specific and individualized treatment approach for your type of pain can lead to a successful outcome for you and resolve your symptoms for the long term. This is why you can’t rely on a standard cookie cutter approach; you need a customized and individualized treatment approach specifically for your type of low back pain.

Learn how to get rid of that low back pain!

Fill out for your FREE back pain relief movements!

How is it diagnosed?

Do you need an X-ray and MRI imaging for chronic low back pain?
Your physical therapist will perform a thorough evaluation that includes:
  • A review of your health history.
  • Questions about your specific symptoms.
  • A thorough examination that includes assessing the quality and quantity of your movements, and any movement behaviors that might put you at risk for delayed recovery.
  • Tests to identify signs or symptoms that could indicate a serious health problem, such as broken bones or cancer.
  • Assessment of how you use your body at work, at home, during sports, and at leisure.
For most cases of low back pain imaging tests, such as x-rays, computed tomography (CT) scans, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are not helpful for recovery. For example, in a recently published article comparing patients who received an MRI first vs physical therapy first for low back pain, the patients who received an MRI first spent on average $4,793 more (with similar outcomes in each group). If your physical therapist suspects that your low back pain might be caused by a serious health condition, the therapist will refer you to other health care professionals for further evaluation.

Do you need an X-ray and MRI imaging for chronic low back pain?

As we’ve discussed, the first step is to solve the root cause of your chronic low back pain. This is the most essential step to plan a treatment specialized for you and your unique type of pain. Your root cause will guide your treatment and dictate what is the best way to treat your pain. This, along with identifying risk factors that may be predisposing you to have your pain and injury, will allow you to start getting pain free again. The next step is to start decreasing pain, modifying activities, and start addressing all of the impairments causing your pain which we discovered during your evaluation. With each session, pain should start to decrease and you should start to regain range of motion with less pain and symptoms. Any radicular and referred pain should resolve fast as well. At this point, we begin light and basic strengthening only if it does not increase pain. Treatment will consist of a lot of manual therapy and light exercises.

How can a physical therapist treat it?

How long does recovery take? How much does it cost? How long are sessions?
Your physical therapist can help you improve or restore mobility and reduce low back pain—in many cases, without expensive surgery or the side effects of medications.If you are having low back pain right now:
  • Stay active, and do as much of your normal routine as possible (bed rest for longer than a day can actually slow down your recovery.)
  • If your pain lasts more than a few days or gets worse, schedule an appointment to see your physical therapist.
Not all low back pain is the same, so your treatment should be tailored to for your specific symptoms and condition. Once the examination is complete, your physical therapist will evaluate the results, identify the factors that have contributed to your specific back problem, and design an individualized treatment plan for your specific back problem. Treatments may include:
  • Manual therapy, including spinal manipulation, to improve the mobility of joints and soft tissues
  • Specific strengthening and flexibility exercises
  • Education about how you can take better care of your back
  • Training for proper lifting, bending, and sitting; for doing chores both at work and in the home; and for proper sleeping positions
  • Assistance in creating a safe and effective physical activity program to improve your overall health
  • Use of ice or heat treatments or electrical stimulation to help relieve pain

Learn how to get rid of that low back pain!

Fill out for your FREE back pain relief movements!

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