THIS, is an EASY one…the answer is Yes, Absolutely! In fact, the majority of people can get rid of back pain and return to what they did before the back injury or pain began without shots, pills or surgery. Research shows that if you begin Physical Therapy within the first 16-21 days of when the pain started that you will get back to normal much quicker and more completely than if you wait for months to address the reason why the problem occurred.
Shots can be helpful in decreasing back pain and getting you back to living life. However, the relief they provide is temporary due to the fact that they are just treating the symptom of the problem instead of attacking and resolving the reason why the back pain or injury began in the first place. Shots for the Low Back are given near the spinal column to decrease swelling of the nerves that come off the spinal cord and travel down your legs. Decreasing the swelling at the nerves allows the muscles to relax as well. However, IF there is relief of symptoms it only lasts for a few hours, days or weeks at best. This is because the reason why the pressure was placed on the nerve (which affects your muscles) in the first place was not addressed or corrected.
Pills can help to reduce low back pain by blocking pain signals from your brain to your nerves (which control your muscles). But again, the benefit that pills bring is only temporary – so as soon as you stop “popping pills”, the back pain and the poor quality of life that go with it return. This mentality is what helped to fuel the pain pill crisis in which so many people became addicted to pills. After all, it IS easier to take a pill that makes you feel better, in the short term – however, you risk becoming addicted to pain pills. Also, the pills do nothing to solve the reason why the pain and loss of desired activities occurred in the first place.
Surgery is needed at times for some severe low back issues that do not respond to Physical Therapy. However, this is not the norm as many people that have low back surgery are no better or sometimes worse after the surgery.
At Cardin and Miller Physical Therapy, we specialize in helping people aged 40 and over to resolve their back pain and best of all get back to living life the way they did before the back injury/pain began.
If you would like to get back to sitting, standing, walking, tennis, golfing, lifting, running, etc. without back pain or losing sleep….. AND avoid shots, pills and surgery, then please do one of the following:
Call 717-245-0400 to schedule a One on One FREE SCREEN with one of our back pain experts so that they can listen to the issues you are having and tell you how they can best help you.
Call 717-245-0400 to schedule a Free Phone Consultation with one of our Low Back experts if you prefer to chat on the phone vs. face to face so we can listen to the issues you are having and tell you the next best step.
Email me at smiller@cardinmillerpt.com if you would rather connect that way first to ask me some questions and chat with me about your back issues so I can make recommendations about what to do next.