LOW BACK PAIN BEYOND the STRUCTURE BASED DIAGNOSIS

According to statistics, Low Back Pain has a lifetime prevalence of 65% to 80% . With a prevalence so high, there is a good chance you will experience low back pain at some point in your life. Perhaps you have in the past, or you have some low back pain right now. When it comes to the proper treatment, how do you know what is right for you? Chances are, you’ve probably seen a physician, possibly received some medications, maybe even an x ray and MRI, and perhaps your physician has recommended you try a course of Physical Therapy. At North Jersey Physical Therapy, we have a unique approach to the treatment of your low back pain.According to statistics, Low Back Pain has a lifetime prevalence of 65% to 80% . With a prevalence so high, there is a good chance you will experience low back pain at some point in your life. Perhaps you have in the past, or you have some low back pain right now. When it comes to the proper treatment, how do you know what is right for you? Chances are, you’ve probably seen a physician, possibly received some medications, maybe even an x ray and MRI, and perhaps your physician has recommended you try a course of Physical Therapy. At North Jersey Physical Therapy, we have a unique approach to the treatment of your low back pain.Now that it is understood that your MRI findings might not even be showing the true root cause of your pain, you may be asking yourself, what is causing my low back pain? At North Jersey Physical Therapy we look at how your body moves, we look for compensatory patterns that may have become long term strategies due to muscle inhibition elsewhere, leading to wear and tear in certain areas which eventually leads to pain. Often, the site of the pain is not the same as the cause of the pain. For example, your pain may be in your low back, but the reason it hurts at that segment is because your body is moving too much from that same segment because something else isn’t moving well enough, or certain muscles have become inhibited, or you are overusing muscles that aren’t designed to be used in such a way. You are beating up that one section of your back because something, somewhere else, isn’t doing its job.Now that it is understood that your MRI findings might not even be showing the true root cause of your pain, you may be asking yourself, what is causing my low back pain? At North Jersey Physical Therapy we look at how your body moves, we look for compensatory patterns that may have become long term strategies due to muscle inhibition elsewhere, leading to wear and tear in certain areas which eventually leads to pain. Often, the site of the pain is not the same as the cause of the pain. For example, your pain may be in your low back, but the reason it hurts at that segment is because your body is moving too much from that same segment because something else isn’t moving well enough, or certain muscles have become inhibited, or you are overusing muscles that aren’t designed to be used in such a way. You are beating up that one section of your back because something, somewhere else, isn’t doing its job.The physical therapists at North Jersey Physical Therapy will give you a comprehensive initial evaluation, go over their findings and share with you their physical therapy diagnosis, assessment, and treatment plan to address the root cause of your low back pain. They will design a home program to reinforce new movement strategies that will help improve carryover between treatment sessions and promote progress. Call today to improve the way you move!

1 Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD  “Epidemiology of Low Back Pain” ;Pain Physician Vol. 3, No. 2, 20002 Boden SD et al.  “Abnoral magnetic resonance scans of the lumbar spine in asymptomatic subjects.  A prospective investigation.” J Bone Joint Surg. Am.  1990 Mar; 72(3):403-8.