6 Benefits Physical Therapy Can Help Relieve your Lower Back Pain

Back pain can occur due to many conditions and can affect the quality of your life. While it may be tempting to stay in bed and rest, physical therapy will help get you feeling like your best self again much faster.

Physical therapists in Chicago back pain use exercises and treatments that strengthen and stabilize the core muscles, which reduces stress on the spine and decreases back pain. Additionally, they provide education and strategies to manage future pain episodes.

1. Improved Muscle Strength

Studies show that if you strengthen the muscles around your back, it can help relieve pain and prevent future injuries. Your physical therapist will design an individualized treatment plan that combines passive and active exercises to increase your spinal stability, strength and flexibility.

They’ll also teach you proper body posture techniques for sitting, standing and lifting that decrease your likelihood of back injury.

They may also use heat or ice treatments and TENS therapy to help ease your back pain. Getting started with physical therapy early in your recovery can reduce the need for surgery and medication down the road.

2. Increased Flexibility

Physical therapists work to increase the flexibility of back and core muscles, which relieves pain by improving posture. This also helps prevent future back problems from occurring by decreasing the amount of pressure on the spine.

Tight muscles restrict the availability of oxygen to the musculoskeletal system, which causes pain. Stretching is an effective way to increase flexibility, and a physical therapist will design the proper stretching program for you.

Physical therapy also helps you learn how to perform the activities that cause back pain properly, which decreases your risk for injury and improves your quality of life. This helps reduce your dependency on medication to manage the pain and can even help eliminate the need for surgery.

3. Better Posture

When the muscles and bones of your musculoskeletal system align properly, they can hold the rest of the body upright. But if you spend long periods of time slouching, your back may be prone to a variety of issues.

A physical therapist can help you improve your posture through a series of treatments and exercises. Including therapeutic massages, which help relax tense back muscles and reduce pain, as well as strengthening exercises that address weaknesses in the muscles that contribute to poor alignment.

Heat and cold therapy can also reduce discomfort, allowing you to engage in posture-improving exercises more easily. This will reduce your risk of recurring back problems and allow you to live a more comfortable life.

4. Reduced Swelling

Using techniques like applying ice and manual therapy to the area, a physical therapist can help reduce swelling. This allows the injured tissue to heal faster and also limits the need for medication.

Swelling can make it more difficult to move and can cause pain. A physical therapist can teach you how to perform exercises and activities that will help improve your balance and coordination.

If you are afraid to do activities because you fear back pain, a physical therapist can teach you how to slowly increase the activity over time. This is called graded activity and it can be very effective for people who suffer from back pain.

5. Better Sleep

A physical therapist will often use spinal manipulation techniques to reduce inflammation around the spine and encourage the body’s natural production of pain-killing endorphins. These sessions can help to relieve lower back pain in a short period of time.

Whether your lower back pain is due to an injury or a health condition like fibroid tumors, ovarian cysts or arthritis, it’s important to see a physical therapist. Physical therapy provides a path to natural pain relief and long-term wellness. This is especially true if the patient follows the guidance of their physical therapist. This includes at-home treatment to improve the symptoms and prevent worsening of the back pain.

6. Increased Energy

Millions of Americans live with lower back pain. It can be caused by a variety of things such as poor posture, sudden movement, herniated discs or serious health issues like kidney infections, arthritis and even cancer.

Physical therapy can help improve the quality of life for people living with low back pain. It will strengthen and stretch the muscles around your joints which helps relieve pain and increase mobility and flexibility.

Physical therapists also educate patients about their symptoms and provide education on self-management strategies to improve their overall quality of life. This includes tips and tricks to reduce back pain while at work or home.