Low back pain has a variety of different causes. Some low back pain is caused by an acute injury sustained while lifting, bending, or playing sports. Other injuries of the low back come on slowly over time. No matter the cause, a physical therapist can help you to figure out the cause of the pain and provide treatments to get your relief quickly.
Our physical therapists will work to evaluate the cause of the low back pain and provide treatment along with prescribed exercises to reduce your pain. The majority of our patients get some relief of knee pain within the first 1-2 weeks of treatment. We also provide access to an app from your phone or computer to help you track progress with exercises and to have videos and pictures of each exercise to make sure you are accurate with your technique.
What Causes Low Back Pain?
Though there are many causes of low back pain, we will list the different types along with their causes. It is important to remember that all causes of low back pain listed below can benefit from physical therapy and there is a lot that you can do to both reduce your pain and improve your function.
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Disc injuries; Usually causes by lifting or bending but can be caused by excessive sitting. Results in pain across the back, pain into the buttock, pain/numbness/tingling into the legs, and weakness of the legs.
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Facet joint injuries: Caused by movement. Results in pain during movement that is sharp with dull aching at rest.
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Muscle strains: Usually occur with lifting or sports type activity. Results in pain in the muscles of the back that is made worse with movement.
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Nerve impingement: Occurs due to age related changes of the spine. Also can be referred to as stenosis. Can cause pain, weakness, numbness, and tingling into one or both of the legs.
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Sciatica: Sciatica is a common condition that often causes pain in the lower back, buttocks and legs. The cause of the condition is usually compression of one or more of the 5 nerve roots in the lower back, leading to inflammation and irritation. Symptoms may include shooting pains down your sciatic nerve as well as pain in your lower back, buttocks, hips and legs. Treatment for this condition can range from simple stretches and exercises to physical therapy or even surgery depending on the severity of your symptoms. If you're experiencing any of these symptoms, it's important to talk to a physical therapist about diagnosis and treatment options for sciatica.
How is Low Back Pain Treated?
Low back pain is treated with a variety of methods. Often times our physical therapists will provide hands on manual therapy such as massage and joint mobilization in order to help reduce muscle tension and increase joint mobility. With low back injuries, patients often respond well to movement in a particular direction. This is why it is important to get an evaluation from a physical therapist to help you determine the direction of movement that you should be performing.
Patient's often notice some relief of symptoms after the first visit of physical therapy. We will work with you to first put out the fire and then establish long term fixes so that you don't have to deal with recurrent low back pain, which is so common.
Why Choose HIDEF?
Our sports injury clinics have the the therapists trained specially to deal with pain related to the low back. Our therapist perform thorough evaluations of the the knee, and all other joints surrounding the low back (lumbar spine). We work with you in a 1 to 1 care model with a customized plan of care based on your specific needs. All of our clinics have equipment designed to be able to care for all types of low back pain and injury.
Locations
BELLEVUE
13112 NE 20th St #400
Bellevue, WA 98005
P: (425) 629-9997
F: (425) 629-9979
RENTON
332 Burnett Ave S
Renton, WA 98057
P: (206) 693-9929
F: (206) 922-8909