Back Problems Explained

Kanata Orthopaedic Physiotherapy Clinic > About Your Health > Back Problems Explained

Facts:

  • 50% of working Canadians admit to having back pain at some point in any given year
  • Back pain is one of the most common reasons for missed work, and is the third most common reason for visits to the doctor’s office in Canada
  • Most causes of back pain are mechanical or soft tissue in origin, meaning that they are not caused by a serious medical condition
  • It is estimated that 80% of the population will experience an episode of back pain at some point in their lives

Causes of Back Pain:

Lower Back Pain can be caused by a number of different conditions. If you experience back pain it is more than likely that it will fall into one of the following categories:

  • Back joint sprain
  • Back muscle strain
  • Overuse pain
  • General back and abdominal weakness
  • Poor posture
  • Disc herniation or disc bulge
  • Disc degeneration
  • Osteoarthritits
  • Nerve entrapment

What Can you Do?

Regardless of the cause of your back injury or back pain, a physiotherapist at Kanata Orthopaedic Physiotherapy Clinic can help you get better in a variety of ways, such as:

  • Teach you exercises to improve your abdominal and low back muscle strength, improve your core stability, and to stretch out tight back muscles
  • Give you advice on making changes to your normal activities to prevent re-injuring or further irritating your back
  • Advise you on an overall exercise program to make you more fit and strong in order to help you avoid injuring your back again
  • Advise you on improving your posture, work positioning and ergonomics
    Provide treatment with electric currents, ultrasound, heat, ice and acupuncture to help reduce inflammation and pain
  • Perform manual, hands-on treatments to help loosen tight joints and muscles
  • Manual or mechanical traction to reduce pressure on joints, discs and nerves

At Kanata Orthopaedic Physiotherapy Clinic our goal in treating your back pain is to get you back to your leisure, sports and working activities as soon as possible, and to get you on a program that you can continue independently to prevent re-injury.