I am just finishing a back pain awareness month at the clinic and one common question I keep getting asked is “why does my back pain keep occurring?”
I wrote an email response to Suzanne from Mesa and got her permission to post her story.
“Steven…I saw that you are running a back pain awareness month and it is with perfect timing. I have dealt with back pain on/off for what seems like forever, in all actuality, probably 10 years. It honestly doesn’t feel that bad most of the time. This time it started hurting while I was watching my son play football last Friday night. I was just sitting in the stands and noticed some stiffness during the game. It was hard for me to get up when the game was done.
Anyways, what I want to know is why does back pain keep occurring? Why can I be fine one minute driving my kids around to their activities and then, all of a sudden, I can’t go bowl in our family bowling night.
Thanks for your response.”
These are the types of stories I hear about all of the time. Most people think physical therapy is for rehabilitating from a sports injury or following a surgery. Which, it can be. But, I mostly work with those who are dealing with pain on and off for a long time and then finally decide to come see me because they are frustrated with it.
My response to her was a little more individualized but to answer the question “why does my back pain keep occurring”, it really comes down to what YOU do.
Listen aches and pains occur throughout our lives. It is our ability to overcome those and keep moving, getting stronger and more resilient, that is the key.
Back pain can be like a toothache or a cavity, everyone gets one occasionally. The best way to prevent a toothache is to brush your teeth twice a day and floss.
Movement is like cleaning your teeth. To lower your risk of having back pain, you should move frequently throughout the day. And, if you have trouble with movement, you can always go see a physical therapist (i.e. a dentist in the analogy).
As we age, we tend to put our health off and worry about our growing kids or aging parents. With little “me” time in between. I want to say this is important. That “me” time you used to have where you would do some sort of exercise routine and get stronger was important and vital for a lot of reasons, including decreasing the occurrence of back pain.
So, how do you stop back pain from occurring? Continue moving and partake in a resistance training program.
“YOU CAN’T GO WRONG GETTING STRONG”
Need help getting on a movement program and stopping this re-occurring back pain? Reach out here to schedule a consult.
