Physiotherapy for Back Pain | Cardiff

Back pain is one of the most common complaints treated in clinic. Seeking professional advice and getting the right treatment quickly for lower back pain relief reduces the risk of the condition lingering. It can also speed up recovery time and most importantly, reduce its impact on your quality of life, daily hobbies and work. The above problems can affect each individual differently. In some cases, it can cause severe pain and disability, yet in others no symptoms at all.

Massage & Soft Tissue Hands On Treatment

Massage helps to increase blood flow to the painful areas. It also releases tension in muscles. This in turn, can help reduce pain and improve impaired movement. It can be an effective treatment for many types of back pain if used as part of a structure treatment plan.

Joint mobilisations & manipulations

Joint mobilisations are used to release joint stiffness, improve movement and reduce pain. In addition, mobilisation can be used for patients with degenerative change, disc problems and Hypomobility (general joint stiffness). As specialist Physiotherapists we are able to manipulate joints if it is indicated in a very similar way to Chiropractors.

Ergonomic Advice

Lifestyle factors can also be a big contributor to low back pain. Spending 8+ hours sitting at work with a poorly set up workstation is not going to do your back any favours. However, this is often overlooked. Your physiotherapist will be able to offer you advice on how to achieve an optimal posture. They will also be able to advise on workstation set up, manual handling and adapting tasks to reduce pain.

Exercise Prescription

There is strong evidence that general and specific exercise can help low back pain. Your physio will be able to prescribe exercises that will help you make improvements outside the clinic . Exercises programs may consist of strength, stretching, and general fitness exercises. We will introduce you to the Pilates principles. Our aim is to tie in Physiotherapy hands on treatment with your exercise plan, we support this through the use of our App which you will have access to after your first session at PhysioSpace.

There are a number of reasons why back pain occurs.

A number of body structures can be responsible. However, it is important to remember that it is often more than one factor contributing. This can include lifestyle factors. Some of the well-known types of back pain include:

- Irritation of nerve roots (femoral or sciatic nerves) – otherwise known as sciatica if in the lower back

- Increased tone or spasm in the muscles of the back

- Bone deformity (curvature of the spine or degenerative changes)

- Ligament or muscle strain/sprain – this is common during pregnancy

- Intervertebral disc prolapse or degeneration