Back Pain
Your back is so sore.
Perhaps your doctor sent you for an X-ray or MRI. But it’s all so confusing - and constantly painful. You feel cranky and crippled. It’s affecting your work and home life.
Maybe you’ve already got a diagnosis but you are still looking for a solution. You know life can be better. What have they told you you’ve got?
Arthritis
Sprain
Muscle strain
Disc injury
Fibromyalgia
Curved spine (scoliosis)
Spinal stenosis
Facet joint
Nerve pain
“Why is this happening to me?” or “How can I get better so I can get back to enjoying my life?”
We understand you may feel frustrated, annoyed, or hopeless by now.
How can you get rid of back pain - naturally without drugs or surgery?
Are there stretches, a better sleeping position, or core exercises that can help?
Is heat or ice better when it gets really bad?
Will you have to suffer for life?
You aren’t alone:
1 in 6 Aussies share your pain (‘National Health Survey: First Results, 2017-18).
Ways we can help you with your back pain
Just because you’ve “done a disc” doesn’t necessarily mean you need surgery, or even that it’s causing your pain.
Healthy people without back pain can have scary looking scans. In fact, 37% of symptom-free 20-year-olds have signs of disc degeneration (Brinjikji et al. 2015). As you can imagine, that number only increases with age (Brinjikji et al. 2015). And remember that’s people without any pain.
We help people lead a healthy, happy lifestyle through a range of ways, depending on preference and their needs:
Chiropractic
Acupuncture
Naturopathy
Psychology
Counselling
Clinical Hypnotherapy
You don’t need to worry about which service suits - we’ll point you in the right direction. However, you may like to understand how a few of these services may help:
Chiropractic for back pain
You feel out of whack. Something just doesn’t feel right. There’s a pinch here and something pops when you move. You may feel tight and sore. Tingling & numbness too.
Understandably, you want to know the cause of your pain:
Is it the joint, muscles, ligaments or nerves?
What do your scans show - and what does it all mean in plain English?
How long can you expect recovery to take?
What can you do to help yourself?
You’re likely to feel better having these questions compassionately and professionally answered (Howick et al. 2018).
Our chiropractors will find the cause of your pain - but more than that, why the pain isn’t going away. They’ll take a holistic view of what may be causing you pain: smoking status (Fogelholm 2001) (Shiri & Falah-Hassani 2016), repetitive movements at work, and sleeping posture (Kovacs et al. 2003) are examples of what they may look at.
Expect your joints to be freed & aligned with adjustments, mobilisations or cranial therapies. Massage may be used to help your muscles relax. You may even gain strength & flexibility through rehab exercises and electro-therapy (Gordon et al. 2016) (Andrade et al. 2018) (Doucet et al. 2012). Laser therapy may decrease your back & neck pain (Glazov et al. 2015) (Chow et al. 2009).
Chiropractic at Body and Brain Centre
Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine for back pain
Imagine a flowing stream. Always in a state of movement and balance until a stormy night when a tree comes crashing down. The tree blocks the stream’s flow. The water gushes out along the banks.
Acupuncture is the crane lifting the tree from the water. Restoring the natural state of the stream - a steady flow. Just as water spills out of the stream, aches can spill out from blocks in the flow of our Qi energy.
Qi can be balanced with acupuncture, herbs, cupping, moxa and specific Chinese massage points. By stimulating the muscles and nerves, your back pain may ease.
Chronic back pain or your old knees causing a limp - acupuncture can be helpful (Manheimer 2005) (Zhang et al. 2015).
Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine at Body and Brain Centre
Naturopathy for back pain
Inflammation and nutrient deficiencies can make chronic pain worse (Guida et al. 2020) (Zeilhofer 2008) (Ji et al. 2019).
You may be looking for a natural alternative to drugs. Maybe you need to continue taking painkillers but want to address your underlying health rather than accept a bandaid solution.
Our skilled naturopaths will assess your diet and lifestyle looking for little tweaks which can have big outcomes. You may be given a tailored herbal blend to calm the pain and reduce inflammation (Goldberg & Katz 2007).
Naturopathy at Body and Brain Centre
Psychology & Counselling for back pain
You feel helpless - this has gone on for so long. You never thought you’d miss emptying the dishwasher but now that you struggle to bend down, you do miss it. Well almost.
You’re frustrated. You can’t do what you used to. Life is now directed by your pain - one day is good and then the next? You can barely move or leave the house.
You worry about little things now. The jerks of the train chugging away could set off your pain. Maybe you feel angry too - why did this have to happen to you?
Chronic pain is more than just the physical (Kamper et al. 2015) (Marin et al. 2017). It can be all consuming.
Counselling can help you learn to recognise, understand and manage your thoughts, emotions and behaviours. This can help you reduce your pain intensity (Suso-Ribera et al. 2019) (Howell 1984) since the mind and body are connected. You’ll learn ways to cope better with the ups and downs of constantly feeling unwell and injured.
Counselling at Body and Brain Centre
Clinical Hypnotherapy for Back Pain
Chronic pain takes over your life. At times, it feels all-consuming and overwhelming. Other times, it's a mere annoyance.
Hypnotherapy can help re-write your mindset to calm your pain.
Hypnotherapy at Body & Brain Centre
Let us help you
Not sure which service to start with?
No worries. Book your free phone consultation and we’ll point you in the right direction. Medicare rebates may be available. From here we can start an open, and honest conversation about your back pain - just to make sure we’re the right fit for you.
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Research references
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Brinjikji W, et al. (2015). Systematic literature review of imaging features of spinal degeneration in asymptomatic populations. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2015 Apr;36(4):811-6. doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A4173. Epub 2014 Nov 27.
Cheng JOS & Cheng ST (2019). Effectiveness of physical and cognitive-behavioural intervention programmes for chronic musculoskeletal pain in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. PLoS One. 2019;14(10):e0223367. Published 2019 Oct 10. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0223367. The value of adding cognitive behavioural therapy to an exercise program for chronic pain is questionable with inconsistent results seen.
Chow RT, Johnson MI, Lopes-Martins RA, Bjordal JM (2009). Efficacy of low-level laser therapy in the management of neck pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised placebo or active-treatment controlled trials. The Lancet. 2009 Dec 5;374(9705):1897-908.
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