Back Pain - Have Physiotherapy At Your Rescue!

Physiotherapy includes the two basic forms: active physical therapy and passive physical therapy. Active physical therapy focuses on stretching and specific exercises to help recover from back problems. Passive physical therapy includes modalities such as the use of heat pads, ice packs, and electrical stimulation.

Heat therapy helps in dilating the blood vessels, which increases the blood flow. Thus, it gives proper passage to the nutrients and oxygen to reach the muscles, helping the damaged tissues to heal. Additionally, sensory stimulators present in the skin get stimulated through heat therapy. This decreases the transmission of pain signals reaching the brain, helping the patient recover from pain.

Lower back pain can be managed well with the help of active physical therapy, which includes manual therapy (it is a hands-on technique to relieve the stiffness and increase the mobility, movement exercises (it helps in decreasing the radiating or referred pain and restoring the motion, and strengthening and core exercises (it provides core stability by strengthening the low back muscles (erector spine).

Physiotherapy is a conservative (non-surgical) treatment regimen advised to patients with back pain before considering more complex treatments such as surgery. It focuses on treating the patient by increasing the mobility of the muscles and joints and alleviating the pain. Physiotherapy also serves the patient by imparting the knowledge about the maintenance program. This helps in recovering earlier and preventing the future back-related issues.