What is physical therapy?

In short it’s a uniquely specialized program to help the patient recover from pain and regain mobility due to injury trauma or as a post surgery aid.

About 16 million American adults suffer from chronic back pain every year. Which can result in limitations on common everyday activities. The most common sufferers of back pain report it to be caused because of simply sitting behind a desk for hours on end.

How can physical therapy help your back pain?

Join us as we explain why and how physical therapy can be used to relieve back pain and help prevent it as well.

What Causes Back Pain?

Back pain can be caused by a number of reasons ranging from a harmless sprain that can resolve itself within a couple weeks to a fractured vertebrae that may need immediate attention. You can develop back pain after suffering from damage caused to the muscles, tendons, and discs in your back. Some of these include the aforementioned sprains and fractures as well as:

• Muscle or Tendon Strain
• Degenerative Disc Disease
• Herniated or Bulging Discs
• Spinal Stenosis

Back pain can also be caused by inflammation, which can be caused by injury, trauma, or arthritis. Osteoporosis which can leave vertebrae vulnerable to fractures. And fibromyalgia which can cause muscle pain and fatigue. 

Kidney pain caused by stones or infection are often confused with lower back pain, if you feel like treatment for your back isn’t helping the pain. Speak with your primary care provider to clear up any confusions.

What Does Physical Therapy Entail?

During your initial visit, there will be a thorough evaluation of both your symptoms and medical history. We will analyze your posture and determine your range of motion. Afterwards a physical therapist will create a program to target the cause of your pain. The intention for physical therapy will be to reduce pain, while increasing strength. 

This may involve exercises to increase strength of your abdominal, quadriceps and gluteal muscles to reduce the stress on your lower back. Exercise such as stationary bike, treadmill, or medical Tai Chi can help improve endurance. Stretching may also be used to regain and improve mobility. Don’t be surprised if you are assigned “homework” as you may be required to do more stretches at your home to improve the strength of your back muscles more quickly. 

Physical therapy may not be able to help everybody, some patients may still require surgery after a physical therapy program. Though this is still valuable as the stronger you are going into surgery the stronger you will be going out of it. This can reduce the amount of recovery time post surgery and is often done after surgeries to help recover even sooner.

Preventing Back Pain in the Future

Just because you’ve relieved your back pain after physical therapy doesn’t mean it won’t come back. Many times if the patient does not change their habits, the back pain can return. For this reason our physical therapists as SOHMA Integrative Medicine will teach you proper posture when sitting, standing and exercising to reduce the chances of injury.

Physical therapy is not only used to get better, but to also educate yourself in how to take care of your body. We may provide exercises and or a stretching routine for you to follow at home after the original program has ended. By incorporating these into your own exercise routine you’ll be able to reduce the chances of stuffing with back pain.

Take the Next Step In Improving Your Health by Contacting SOHMA Integrative Medicine

Our goal is to help you improve your health. You can reach out to us and ask about the Myers Cocktail, IV Therapy, Chiropractic care, or how our other health service lines can help you with your journey to improved health. 

Located in Long Beach, CA, we help individuals from the surrounding cities.

We look forward to helping you take the next step in your journey to better health.