Do you know the seven most dangerous words in health care, especially when faced with common back pain? You are like 99.9 per cent of all people who are to wait until you have back pain before you’ll do anything and would not take pro-active measures to prevent it. If you wake up one morning only with stiffness and it goes away, you are likely fine. However, if you wake up every morning this way remember the seven most dangerous words in health care, “it will go away on its own.” Surely It will not go away on its own. It may go into hibernation even after taking your prescribed medicines. The effect of the medicines would be short-lived or transient. What the prescribed drugs do is simply to mask the pain, invariably blocking the pathway to the central nervous system, so that the brain would be unaware of the progressive damage going on unnoticed at the injured back and the associated structures. It would get worse and be harder to fix later. If you are having back pain more than once a week, visit a reputable physiotherapist or obtain a referral from your doctor to a good one in your vicinity.
Physiotherapists are university graduates who are specially trained in the art and science of physical medicine. Physiotherapy or Physical Therapy is the rehabilitation of acute and chronic musculo-skeletal disorders, mobility impairments, orthopedic conditions, post surgical and sports related injuries. Licensed physiotherapists are specifically trained to utilize therapeutic exercise, hands-on techniques and modalities such as ultrasound and electrotherapy to promote tissue healing, decrease pain, restore mobility and increase function. These are the health personnel who spend more time than any other in the health section on musculo-skeletal problems especially, spine related issues.
Because of the elusiveness of back pain to medical science, many people who go through the agony of common back pain are told by some health care professionals that their back pain is incurable. Fortunately this is scarcely true. Others are advised to treat themselves as semi-invalids. They would say; ‘you will be fine provided you don’t bend, don’t lift, and be gentle when performing your conjugal obligation and a laundry list of other don’ts. This excessive negative approach is equivalent to a car mechanic handing back a customer’s car with a casual dismissive comment; ‘your car will be alright provided you don’t speed more than 40km/h.’
Despite this confusion, there is specific and preferred treatment approach to mechanical back pain which is skillful physiotherapy. Physiotherapy provides complementary treatment to the doctor’s therapy. Irrespective of the fact that the patient is being treated by a neurologist, orthopaedic surgeon e.t.c, only physiotherapy can provide the patient with the necessary physical and emotional assistance for resuming a normal life. Physiotherapy that is thoughtfully and skillfully performed will surely bring succor to victims of chronic and debilitating back pain. Good number of victims of excruciating back pain have found solace in the hands of skilled physiotherapists. A physiotherapist with good knowledge of anatomy and biomechanics of human back would use needed modalities and hands-on techniques to ameliorate the painful back condition. Most times I watch with disgust, the ignorance and sufferings of people who are going through the agony of this redeemable monster called back pain and have resorted to accept their condition as an age-related disease. Really age is a risk factor when issues of back pain are concerned. However the effects of aging can be slowed down by participating in structured physiotherapy programme, well tailored to the patient’s condition which will help build muscle strength and flexibility at the same time support and align the body properly.
My humble and sincere advice to persons going through chronic, excruciating and disabling neck pain, mid back pain or waist pain as a specialist is this; don’t accept back pain as you would accept gray hair on your head! It could take a combination of good sessions of physiotherapy , just bear it and appropriate drug therapy from your doctor, to banish the pain or at least dramaticallyreduce the pain to the barest minimum.
Visit a functional physiotherapy clinic today or obtain a referral from your physician to a good one.