Back and Neck Pain Treatment

Back pain is the most common type of injury or complaint we see in the general population. Muscle strains, joint sprains, arthritis, degenerative disc disease and disc bulges are just a few of the ways your back can cause pain. Symptoms are often referred or radiate down the leg of the affected side. Sitting postures, repetitive activities at work and flexibility imbalances about the hip and back are often contributors to the development of back pain.

Physiotherapists can assess your medical history, your functional history and preform a physical examination that will yield vital information about how you back pain developed. This is integral to deciding how to offer treatment. Staff will provide you with information about how to sit, walk and stand. Ergonomic work and recreational advice will be provided. Manual therapy, pain treating modalities and exercise therapy will help alleviate your symptoms and limit the length of you back pain episode.

Neck Pain

Neck pain can develop in many different ways and can be associated with traumatic injury such as a motor vehicle accident or sports injury. Whiplash or the rapid movement of the head forward and back can cause serious neck and head injury. Sleeping in extreme position for prolonged periods of time can cause neck injury but very often we just don’t know why the pain developed as it comes on with no particular provoking activity. In these cases, posture, arthritis and degenerative disc change of the neck are often the culprit.

Education about ergonomic sitting positions, movement avoidance and sleep position with reference to pillow choice are often great places to start in alleviating neck pain. Manual therapy techniques, traction, postural and neck care exercise are gentle ways to improve neck range of motion, improve posture and reduce or eliminate pain.

In cases where work is the obvious situation that provokes symptoms, an ergonomic work site assessment may be indicated to help improve neck strain and reduce neck pain.