If you’re like most people that we’ve seen for Physical Therapy, then you’ve suffered from back pain at some point in your life. Statistics show that, currently, 80% of the population have had at least one run in with some type of pesky back pain. And, unfortunately, chances are good that the way that you handled the back pain wasn’t the best possible solution. All too often, people go for high-tech tests, heavy drugs, or surgery too soon.
Pain and flexibility. In Physical Therapy, they are so closely intertwined, as flexibility is almost always one of the main culprits as to “why” you have pain, and also one of the primary solutions as to how to get rid of your pain. When a back pain patient starts up a course of Physical Therapy in the Jersey City or Elizabeth clinic, we always incorporate an extensive stretching regimen, and there’s a very simple reason why:
For all of my Physical Therapy patients that I’m treating for their back problems, this question comes up 100% of the time. “How should I take care of my back?” For such a general question, which could possibly have a million different answers, I actually find myself coming back to the same solutions time and time again.
With Jennifer, although she did experience an unfortunate bout of back pain which then moved into her shoulder and neck due to overcompensation, I am happy to report that with Physical Therapy, we were able to help her rid her life of back pain symptoms completely!
Is back pain causing you to move a little slower and more cautiously?
If left untreated, chronic back pain can lead to long-term spinal joint and possibly nerve damage. Back pain is one of the most common physical complaints that people suffer from and more than 80% of the US population will experience back pain at some point in their lifetime. Back pain can interfere with your ability to bend, kneel, lift, reach, do work and enjoy time with your family. Not to mention, it can make you down right irritable and affect others around you.
You’re injuring yourself at work — daily. But I have an office job, you think; my workplace is altogether too safe. Actually, that’s the problem. Sitting at a desk all day, and the repetitive motions that accompany that sitting, cause microtrauma in our bodies. New studies are beginning to reveal that extended periods of sitting and sedentary behavior have a significant
negative effect on our well-being — and an even greater impact on our overall health than our diets.
So you’ve gotten through part 2 of my top home exercises for back pain due to sciatica without pain. Great! Looks like you’re progressing quite well with my 3 Phases of Healing. I think it’s time to take these Physical Therapy exercises to the next step and get up onto our feet, shall we?
In my previous post, we began the series on my favorite exercises for back pain coming from sciatica that I give all my Physical Therapy patients in the Elizabeth and Jersey City clinics. We started out with a simple prone prop up on the elbows. Now that we’ve got the basic prone prop up on the elbows down pat, and once that exercise can be performed with absolutely no discomfort or pain, we can now follow the progression into the next motion:
When undergoing a course of Physical Therapy for sciatica, an efficient recovery includes home exercises that patients must complete in order to have the best chance and reducing pain symptoms and getting better faster. Studies have shown that skilled Physical Therapy in the clinic in conjunction with a good home exercise program produce the best and most efficient recoveries from back pain due to sciatica.
So what we’ll do is go through my top home exercises for sciatica that I regularly recommend for all my back pain and sciatica Physical Therapy patients
Sciatica. In my experience in Physical Therapy, my patients in Jersey City and Elizabeth have definitely heard the term before, but there is a struggle to really define what it is. In order to clear up this confusion, I thought it would be a great idea to jump right in and define what sciatica is, plus go into common causes for the condition.
