Back Pain: What CAN you do?

Back pain is so common. If you haven’t experienced it, chances are that you know somebody who has. In fact, 1 in every 6 Australians reported back pain in 2014-15. It is also the leading reason for loss of productivity nationwide. Sounds kinda scary, right? So what can we do to help your situation?

In 2022, Australia released a new framework to help manage those who experience chronic back pain… And it’s GOOD.

We’ve identified that when we receive diagnostic imaging on our backs, it often comes with a very doom and gloom outlook. We look at the scans and are told there’s degeneration or bulged discs and all of a sudden, we feel helpless, fragile, and like our backs need protection at all costs. So, we stop moving them altogether.

What happens to muscles that don’t move, though? They become weaker. Now, before you know it, the framework designed to help support and maintain our spine are less functional resulting in (you guessed it) more pain.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you should forgo any and all recommendations to receive diagnostic imagine on your back. Instead, before you get any diagnostic imaging, ground yourself in the idea that most people can and will have some form of degeneration in the spine, but you shouldn’t let that stop you.

More knowledge will give you more insight into your situation and, therefore, a better understanding of what you CAN be doing.