Author: leytonosteopaths@gmail.com

There are two broad types of back injury: sudden and cumulative. Even if the onset of pain is sudden, the injury may have been developing cumulatively, beneath our awareness, for some time.

Pain is a bodily system like the respiratory system or the cardiovascular system. Its function is to warn of us harm or potential harm. Like the other systems, the pain system can develop dysfunction.

Pain and tissue damage are not the same. Many factors other than tissue damage affect our experience of pain, especially if we’ve been in pain a long time.

Prolonged exposure to pain decreases our pain threshold.

Elements of our home, work and social lives can cause, contribute to or aggravate back problems. We need to identify the ‘aggravating factors’.

It is important to study the nuances of your aggravating factors. For example, if your housework is the problem try to establish which specific aspects of the housework are doing it. Don’t simply say your work is the problem – figure out if it’s being on your feet too long, the lifting that you are doing, or maybe even the journey to and from work that’s aggravating your back.

The duration and intensity of activities that may be contributing to your back pain need to be considered.

Not all aggravating factor are physical. Beliefs and social environment can contribute.

Prolonged time off work hinders recovery in most instances.

Failure to manage causative, aggravating and maintaining factors is one reason why back problems can be slow to recover or return.