You don’t remember any reason your low back pain started, but it doesn’t seem to be going away!
If this is happening to you, you’re not the only one. We hear this story all the time. Lower back pain and sciatica are THE most common things our experts treat at our clinic in Lansing, MI.
One of the first things that people ask us is:
“Why am I still suffering from back pain more than six months after it started? I’ve tried so many things (injections, stretches from YouTube, pain pills, and more), so why is this happening to me?”
One morning you wake up and seem to feel a lot better. This period of relief may last for a few days, weeks, or months – Only to find that the pain comes back the same or worse. This feeling is very discouraging.
So What Do You Do For Your Back Pain Now After Living With It For So Long?
Well, naturally, you visit your doctor. Your doctor gives you a prescription for a “muscle relaxer” or a “pain pill” and says: “let’s just see how it goes with some rest.” Only, it doesn’t get better… It seems better initially, but you end up back at your doctor’s office a few weeks later after taking it easy and lying around the house more than usual.
Meanwhile, you’ve become weaker, stiffer, and unable to get around as quickly as you’d like. The doctor often will give you a more potent pain pill or say, “well, we can try this shot in your back or have you see the surgeon.”
Has This Happened To You?
Sadly, many of these things are often unnecessary, and it’s easy to see why you might be confused. People in your life are telling you to do different things (including your family and friends), often without having a credible idea of what’s going on with your back pain.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed in a situation like this. Maybe you start questioning, “what CAUSED this to happen?”
For adults over 40, back pain is rarely a single event or “sleeping funny.” You might think it happened from bending over to the floor, but more often than not, that was simply the “straw that broke the camel’s back.”
In reality, your back pain was CAUSED from years of poor posture and weakening of the muscles supporting your low back. The bending or the awkward sleeping was only the EFFECT of poor posture and a weakened back.
If you aren’t sure how to help yourself, back pain can become overwhelming and confusing. Because of this, many people, unfortunately, accept it as “a normal part of getting older” or “just the way it is.”
If You’re Suffering From Back Pain Right Now, Here are 7 Reasons Your Back Pain Has Stuck Around Longer Than You Had Hoped:
- You counted on it going away on its own after a while (like other injuries), but that didn’t happen, which was confusing.
- Your doctor gave you some muscle relaxants or pain pills to mask the symptoms, hoping this would be enough to make your back pain go away, but it wasn’t an effective long-term treatment for back pain.
- Your doctor gave you some muscle relaxants or pain pills to mask the symptoms, hoping this would be enough to make your back pain go away, but it wasn’t an effective long-term treatment for back pain.
- Your family and friends have told you that “everyone has back pain” as they age, so you’ve simply accepted it as part of life.
- You’ve tried other healthcare experts or even Physical Therapy in the past, but everything they said didn’t seem to help your back pain.
- Resting your back seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but all it did was make your back feel even more stiff or tight.
- You tried looking on YouTube for exercises that would relieve your pain, but they didn’t seem right for you or made your pain even WORSE than it was before.
- You hoped that getting a few “massages” would get rid of your pain, but despite feeling relaxed, your pain didn’t seem to feel any better in the long term. While it may help temporarily, it is not a permanent treatment for back pain
- You hoped that getting a few “massages” would get rid of your pain, but despite feeling relaxed, your pain didn’t seem to feel any better in the long term. While it may help temporarily, it is not a permanent treatment for back pain.
If any of these 7 points sound familiar in your life, we’d love to see how we can help you with your back pain. We invite you to talk with one of our back pain experts at Healthy Consumer Physical Therapy in Lansing to find out what can be done to help you. If the above 7 points are something you can relate to, this is a GOOD THING. When you know what doesn’t work, it will be easier to narrow down what does!
Click the button below to book a call with us from the comfort of your own home to get expert advice on the phone. This call is FREE, and there is no obligation to book appointments with us after the complimentary call. Our mission is to help you make the right choice about what to do next for your back pain.
So what is the most effective treatment for back pain?
Here are the top 4 things we would recommend:
- First, you need to choose to get help. We find that too many people put off getting help for months or even years. They believe that the back pain will “just go away” after a while. After six months or more, they find they are still struggling with their back pain, and nothing has changed …. Or it’s got even worse.
- Next, it’s essential to do the CORRECT exercises - It’s easy to find unlimited “experts” on the internet and, particularly, YouTube. But we’ve found that these videos are often overgeneralized and may make your back pain WORSE. Our Physical Therapists are expertly trained to look at you from head to toe and help you make a plan, so the problems go away forever—no more constant reliance on the medical field to manage your situation. We empower you with independence.
- Understand that prolonged sitting or rest is not the answer - Can you recall trying to stand after sitting on the couch for a while, but then you find it difficult because your back is so tight and stiff? That’s because sitting or resting for long periods are some of the worst things you can do for back pain. It would help if you had the correct strengthening exercises and hands-on care for your back. This combination helps accelerate your recovery. An expert Physical Therapist must guide this process. Doing so is the key to finally becoming active, mobile, and strong again.
- Choose 1-on-1 Physical Therapy: Physical therapy is a proven treatment option to help with low-back pain. As we mentioned before, back pain is one of the most common things we treat. If you find that your back is making it difficult to be independent, perform at your job, or you’re not as active as you’d like to be with your friends and family … Physical Therapy can help you get back to living your best life. We use a three-step process to make sure you start feeling better and that your treatment for back pain last forever.
If you’d like to know how our expert Physical Therapists at Healthy Consumer Physical Therapy (Lansing, MI) can help you help you find the most effective treatment for back pain forever – we invite you to start with an entirely free, no-obligation Discovery visit appointment at our clinic:
Note: The Discovery Visit is a service we offer to people who are skeptical or nervous about Physical Therapy – Whether they’ve been burned in the past, uncertain if it can help them, or don’t know if it’s the right fit for them. If this sounds like you, please apply for a Discovery visit to hear your story and see if we can help. There is no risk or obligation to continue after this visit.
