Back pain is one of the most common complaints of patients seeking medical care. It is also one of the costliest to treat. Between 1996 and 2013, more than 87.6 billion dollars were spent in the United States treating back and neck pain alone. Common medical interventions for back pain include injectionsof steroids or pain-relieving medications or referral for invasive surgery.

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Many patients who are referred for these services believe that they will be a magic bullet to cure all their pain and dysfunction. However, for many people, even after going through these procedures, their level of function does not fully return—and some even continue to experience some level of pain long after their physician or surgeon
says they are “healed”.

At Foundations Physical Therapy, we believe that back pain is multi-factorial. We approach your body as a whole system and look at the big picture. Often, people with back pain have a history of lower or upper body injury or surgery that has influenced the way that their body moves. Lower body mobility, especially the mobility of the hamstrings, calves, and back muscles, can have a strong influence on how mobile your back is and can prevent you from relaxing into a posture that does not cause stress or strain
in your body. Having a history of abdominal or pelvic surgery, or having a history of pregnancy, can inhibit the stabilizing activity of the core and increase the likelihood of developing back pain.
 

Patients with back pain also tend to have patterns of movement and posture which create fatigue and compensation in other areas of the body. For example, standing up tall in “military posture”, with your chest lifted up may look like “good posture”; but if you hold this for a long period of time, you may begin to feel some aching and tightness in your back as your muscles become fatigued from holding this unusual posture for a long period of time. Fitness enthusiasts who squat and workout without adequate
mobility of the ankles or hips may be strong but may still develop back pain due to compensations while they perform these exercises.
 

Foundations specializes in helping you do what you like to do without pain and in a way that is efficient. Our bodies are master compensators, and if we are motivated to do something, our bodies will find a way to do it. Contact us today to discuss your challenges so we can begin to help you move better.