The Most Common Lower Back Pain Arising from Specific Events
"I think I slipped a disc!"
Generally either a lumbar strain (injury to lower back muscle) or sprain (injury to lower back ligament); both conditions have similar pain referrals that are generally localized in the lower back.
With this condition, all movement typically causes lower back pain. There may even be pain while at rest.
Injury To The Low Back
Most commonly low back injuries occur from one of the following:
- Slip and fall
- Bad posture accompanying repetitive movements; shoveling snow is an example
- Lifting something heavy
- Poor biomechanics with other movements
Treatment
Helping your muscles and ligaments respond well to a load.
The goal is to stay out of pain while applying a load. Generally, muscles take about 3-4 weeks to heal while ligatments can take 4-6 weeks to recover depending on the severity. We accomplish recovery by:
- Teaching proper lower back mechanics
- Using isometric loads and soft tissue techniques to decrease pain
- Beginning to strengthen the muscles and ligaments
- Retraining neuromuscular structures to reduce the threat of re-injury
