Lower Back Issues? Here's How Physiotherapy Exercises Can Help Improve Your Posture

 

COVID-19 has forced work from home onto the agenda of every business around the world. Employees have had to remain focused on their work amid protracted and destabilizing uncertainty. That means most of us had to navigate complex conditions—grief, physical stress, loneliness—that we were simply not accustomed to in the home workplace.

As getting back to the office progresses, there are several debates about the etiology of repetitive strain injuries caused by working or sitting for long hours. Such arguments generally stem from the opinion that daily activities or social iatrogenesis exacerbate otherwise normal body aches into conditions in which medical recourse is demanded.

This intense compounding effect related to domestic and work-related factors must be addressed at an earlier stage to avoid complicated physical injuries. Indeed, there are multiple effective interventions that are aimed to reduce body pain caused by excessive physical or psychosocial stresses for not just employees but also for others who suffer from body aches.

What is Causing Lower Back Pains?

Though lower back pains can be caused by the improper posture in which a person sits, there are still several other pathological causes for this—such as a vertebral fracture, malignancy, or infection. Especially, individuals with physically demanding jobs, physical and mental comorbidities, smokers, and obese adults are more prone to lower back pains.

Many people consider back pain as something that is not a serious health concern as it happens to everyone at some point in time. But what people fail to understand is that it covers a spectrum of different types of pain that ranges from nociceptive and neuropathic to neoplastic, or non-specific. The lumbar spine in a human body consists of soft tissue, vertebrae, zygapophyseal and sacroiliac joints, intervertebral discs, as well as neurovascular structures.

When these elements come under stressors, they alone or in combination can influence significant lower back pain. Due to these myriad factors that cause lower back pain, and the insufficient explicitness of imaging and diagnostic injections; the treatment for back pains still continues to be inadequate.

Some injuries, conditions, and diseases that can cause lower back pain are listed below.

Strains and Sprains

Back strains and sprains caused by huge exertional of physical stress are some of the most common causes of back pain. People who lift heavy objects or abruptly jostle their back even while sneezing or coughing can injure muscles, tendons, or ligaments.

Fractures

Most of us have fallen on our backs at least once in our lives. Though the fall might not have seriously hurt or injured you at the moment, it can still cause risks to the spine in the future. Also, certain physical conditions such as spondylolysis or osteoporosis can significantly increase the risk of fractures even during a minor fall.

Disk Problems

Your intervertebral discs are flat, round "cushions" that are regarded as shock absorbers in between each vertebra. Sometimes, as the persons' age increases, these disks can bulge from their initial position in the spine and can cram a nerve or even tear (herniated disk). Such degenerative disk diseases are also often the reasons for back pains.

Spinal Stenosis

Spinal stenosis is a structural condition of the spine where the spaces within your spine begin to narrow. When the spinal column is too narrow for the spinal cord, it can put significant pressure on the nerves that travel through the spine resulting in excruciating pain.

Arthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis that causes back pain. It normally occurs when the protective cartilage that cushions the ends of the bones wears down over time. Spinal Osteoarthritis causes the deterioration of cartilages in the joints and discs in the neck and lower back which can be one of the main reasons for back pain.

Spondylolisthesis:

Spondylolisthesis is a spinal condition that occurs when one of the vertebrae, which is the bones of your spine, slips out of place onto the vertebra below it. This condition causes severe lower back pain and often leg pain as well.

The biopsychosocial model posits lower back pain as a dynamic interaction between social, psychological, and biological factors. These factors can both predispose to and result from damage and should be taken into consideration when devising interdisciplinary treatment plans. To a large extent, physical therapies and self-care treatments have proven to be significantly beneficial in appropriate patients. Physiotherapy exercises can improve the posture of patients and are extremely vital to a person’s longevity, especially as they age.

Physiotherapy Exercises That Can Help Reduce Back Pain and Improve Your Posture

1. Lower Back Rotation

Rotating your lower back and stimulating the flow of blood is a great physiotherapy exercise that can help reduce lower back pains. The lower back rotation can be performed by tucking one foot behind the other knee. Once this is done, pull your leg across and hold the stretch for at least twenty seconds. For effective results, the experts doing physiotherapy in Richmond Hill advise that the steps must be repeated at least five times for each leg, and do it three times a day.

2. Extensions

Sometimes lying flat on your stomach can help stretch out muscles in the lower regen. An extension stretch can be performed by laying on your stomach, gently pushing up, and extending your lower back. Do not hold this position but continue doing the movement ten times, for three sets, three times each day.

3. Hip stretches

Yes, hip stretches are not only good for your hips but also for the lower back as well. To stretch your hips, kneel on your left knee and push your right foot forward, with the right knee bent. Hold your left foot and slowly pull it upward. Now repeat the same steps on the other side.

4. Hamstring Stretches

Hamstring stretches are done by lying on your back and also a stretch band is required. Then proceed to bend one leg and then push the other leg in the air with a stretch band around your foot. Hold for at least thirty seconds then repeat the same step for both legs five times.

5. Piriformis Stretches

Piriformis stretches are exceptional for a person’s lower back pain. For this, you will have to place your leg across onto your other thigh in a figure 4 shape, and slowly lower your buttock to the ground. Hold the stretch for at least twenty seconds and repeat each leg 5 times.

Conclusion

Lower back pain is one of the most common consequences of a sedentary lifestyle and can be excruciatingly painful. It can significantly influence the person's movement and can profoundly affect their wellbeing, resulting in various musculoskeletal disorders. Physiotherapy is one of the most sought out and effective treatments that has tremendously helped people with lower back pain improve or restore mobility and reduce their pain.

Patients suffering from most types of lower back pain are often referred to physiotherapists for intensive physical therapy for at least four weeks as an initial conservative (nonsurgical) treatment option. If the patient still suffers from lower back pain then they will have to consider other more aggressive treatments, including back surgery. The aim of physiotherapy is to reduce back pain, increase body functionality, and educate the patient on a maintenance program to prevent future back problems.