Low Back Pain Series: Part Two

My name is Dr. Robert Cutting and I am the sole Chiropractor working alongside the team at Mackie Physiotherapy. When it comes to treating patients, I believe in taking an evidence-informed approach to care. Evidence-informed care takes into account the best available evidence, a patient’s preferences and my own clinical knowledge and experience. There certainly is no “one size fits all” when it comes to treating an individual’s musculoskeletal complaints. It’s important to approach each case on an individual basis, and treat based on the individual’s needs and with their specific goals in mind. 

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Chiropractic treatment is highly skilled, hands-on health care that can relieve pain and help improve mobility. Even if you don’t have painful symptoms, regularly scheduled chiropractic care has shown to be beneficial and can help you maintain a healthy spine, as well as optimal muscle and joint function.

We as a team are committed to providing patient-centered, evidence-based spine care to every patient we serve and to communicate accurately and in a timely fashion with referring providers. Our focus is to provide efficient and effective care that educates and empowers our patients. We make our patients feel heard by considering and addressing the anatomical and psychosocial factors that are contributing to a patients condition. 

This is instalment two of a six-part series focusing specifically on low back pain. In this instalment, I want to lay out some facts that may have you questioning your current beliefs about low back pain.

Facts to Consider about Low Back Pain

• Canada is the second highest consumer of opioids & yet low back pain still remains the #1 cause of disability and it’s prevalence has increased by 50% in the last 25 years…
• 80% of people will have back pain at some point – it’s so common that is can now be considered a normal part of life.
• In ~85% of all low back pain cases, there is no identifiable tissue damage. We know that pain is multifactorial and is not a good indicator of tissue damage. Simply put, just because you hurt doesn’t mean you did any serious harm to your low back. Pain is your body’s alarm system, a built in survival mechanism.
  
• Back pain can be scary, but it’s rarely dangerous and just because you experience some pain with movement and certain exercises it doesn’t mean you’re doing more harm. Just resting your low back pain can actually extend the length of time it takes you to recover.
• Lifestyle and psychological factors such as stress levels and sleep quality play HUGE roles in the development & persistence of low back pain. These factors NEED to be addressed in treatment.
• Back pain is an episodic condition that comes and goes – much like a headache.
• Good news! Chiropractors and physiotherapists are highly trained to ask the right questions and perform different screening techniques to detect the truly bad forms of low back pain i.e. infection, tumour, fracture (red flags) – these are very rare.
• It’s important to remember that in most acute (new) episodes of low back pain you don’t necessarily have a “bad back”, you have a normal back that is currently sore, and most acute episodes resolve in 2-4 weeks with a combination of manual therapy and exercise once red flags have been ruled out.

My hope is that this information may challenge some of the current misconceptions surrounding low back pain. My goal with this series is to educate, empower and create a more positive and resilient outlook towards low back pain!

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This Thursday, October 22 @ 7 PM is our Low Back Pain & Sciatica workshop! This free workshop takes place online and will provide more information about back pain, it's causes and prevention, as well as some ways to manage your back pain. Register today to reserve your spot and take advantage of this opportunity!

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Dr. Rob Cutting can be seen at both Mackie Physiotherapy Clinics!

• Monday / Wednesday / Friday at Evergreen Mackie Physiotherapy
• Tuesday / Thursday at Arlington Mackie Physiotherapy
  

Call and book today!
Arlington: (306) 955-7888                  Evergreen: (306) 952-6277