Acute Low Back Pain

You tried to lift a heavy box and felt a sharp pain in your back. Maybe you were tying your shoe and had to sneeze. Or it’s possible you just bent over to pick a penny off the ground before remembering money isn’t real any more. There are too many options to list of how people injure their backs these days. Whatever the cause may be, the important thing is to limit the damage once the initial injury is done. There are several red flags with acute back pain that require diagnosis and treatment by a medical professional including leg weakness, drop foot or bowel/bladder changes. If you are experiencing any of those then do not hesitate to seek treatment. For the other injuries the pain may be severe but with the right approach the damage can be minimized. 

There are several steps to properly heal low back pain but the initial step is always to decrease the inflammatory response. This is accomplished best with diaphragm breathing. Follow along with the video and comment if you have any questions. 

*Insert video on diaphragm breathing

After the acute injury is healed the real work is in fixing what made your back susceptible to injury in the first place. This is unfortunately not a straightforward process and is different for everyone so contact us for a tailored program. The 2 exercises below however are my 2 favorites for early stage recovery and may be all you need to feel better quickly. The key is that they should not cause any pain when completing them. Best of luck and pass the video on to a friend who doesn't have pain at the moment to limit their future risk. 

*insert video on bridges/dead bug