 Physical Therapy (PT) addresses body mechanics (posture), building strength and flexibility through exercise, injury prevention, and utilizes many modalities. The goal of physical therapy is to decrease back pain, increase function, and provide education on a maintenance program to prevent further recurrences.
Upper Chesapeake Health Rehabilitation Services offers physical and occupational therapy for individuals with back pain at three convenient locations. For more information, click here.
The specifics of the therapy program are done under the supervision of a physical therapist and can include passive or active treatments. The therapist may focus on decreasing pain with passive physical therapy modalities, including:
- Heat/ice packs
- TENS units
- Massage/manipulation
- Ultrasound
These treatments can help to decrease a patient’s pain in the short term but do not help to increase strength, endurance, or flexibility – the factors that lead to long term improvements in function and decrease in pain.
 Active physical therapy or exercise is used for strength and endurance. For active physical therapy, specially trained therapists evaluate a patient’s baseline measures of function, range of motion, endurance, and back strength. The therapist compares these numbers to normal levels based on the patient’s age and ideal body weight and designs an exercise program specifically to increase strength, flexibility and endurance.
To rehabilitate the spine, a patient’s back exercise program should encompass a combination of the following:
- Stretching exercises
- Almost every individual who has suffered from low back pain should stretch their hamstring muscles once or twice daily. Simple hamstring stretching does not take much time, although it can be difficult to remember, especially if there is little or no pain. Therefore, hamstring stretching exercises are best done at the same time every day so it becomes part of a person’s daily routine.
 Strengthening exercises
- To strengthen the back muscles, dynamic lumbar stabilization or other prescribed exercises should be done.
- Low-impact aerobic conditioning
- Low impact aerobics (such as walking, bicycling or swimming) can be done for 30-40 minutes three times weekly, on alternate days from the strengthening exercises.
The physical therapists are trained in prescribing appropriate exercise for spinal conditions. When patients are confident in their ability to perform these exercises independently, they are transitioned into an independent exercise program. At this point, patients usually note significant decreases in the frequency and severity of their back pain. |
