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eLearning Series:
Relieve My Back Pain NOW!
( 23 pages )
Back
Pain Treatment: Physical Therapy
Physical
Therapy
Physical therapy
uses different techniques, such as ultrasound, electrical
stimulation,
cryotherapy,
massage,
exercise,
and heat in order to
relieve muscle spasms, increase flexibility,
strengthen muscles, relieve pain,
and accelerate
the healing process. A study in The New
England Journal of Medicine found that the effectiveness
of physical
therapy for lower back
pain was about
the same
as that of chiropractic treatment and
better than no treatment at all.
Physical therapists
must graduate from an accredited physical therapy program,
many
of which offer
master’s and doctoral
degrees along
with bachelor’s
degrees. Most schools require two to
four years of pre-physical therapy
coursework
before admittance. Like other physical
treatment programs, physical therapists
spend
time in both the classroom and medical
settings before graduation. After graduation,
they
must take exams
to become licensed,
and some states
require continuing
education to maintain that license.
After it is determined
by a doctor or back specialist that you are a candidate
for
physical therapy—some
time between
two to
six weeks
after
the onset
of lower back pain or sooner if the
pain is severe or recurs frequently—you
will
meet with the therapist to determine
the best plan of treatment for you.
You will
be asked
how your
back pain
developed,
how long you’ve
had it,
whether or not it’s recurring, what
actions make the pain better or worse,
and any
relevant medical history you have.
The therapist
will also give you a physical exam
of your spine movement,
muscular
flexibility, sitting
and
standing
posture, muscle strength, reflexes,
respiration, motor function, and
repetitive movements.
From there, he or she will determine
which treatments will be
best for you. There is some trial
and error involved, so if one treatment
doesn’t
work
to
alleviate pain, the physical therapist
may try something different.
There
are basically two types of physical
therapy, passive and active. Passive
therapy is done
to you and includes
heat, cryotherapy,
electrical
stimulation,
ultrasound, massage, and lontophoresis.
In heat, or thermal, therapy, the
therapist applies heating
pads,
heat wraps,
or warm gel packs
to the affected
area. This
works to increase the flow of oxygen
to the
muscle, allowing it to heal faster
and relieve pain by
softening muscles.
In cryotherapy, cold is
applied rather
than heat, and is considered more
effective than heat in reducing
inflammation. Electrical stimulation
sends
mild
electrical
impulses to the nerves
and spinal cord, which releases
endorphins and blocks pain signals from the
brain. Ultrasound
heats the deep tissue and allows
it
to relax and stretch more easily.
Massage breaks up scar tissue and
encourages the relaxation of muscle
spasms. During
lontophoresis treatment, a painkiller
and steroid are rubbed into the
skin and a
low level electrical
current
is applied
to speed
up the
absorption of the drugs. It works
similarly
to transdermal patches used to
quit smoking.
You participate
in active therapy, and it includes stretching, strength
building
exercises,
and
aerobic exercise. A
good physical therapist
will combine passive
and active treatments, as exercise
is essential to treating back
pain. The
therapist will
determine which exercises
are best for
your particular
condition
and supervise you in those exercises
to ensure you
are doing them correctly. You
will likely be given stretches
to be
done daily,
fifteen to twenty
minutes of strengthening exercises,
and thirty to forty minutes of
low-impact aerobic exercise,
such as swimming
or
walking,
to
be done three times a week.
You
may feel some soreness or discomfort after active physical
therapy,
but it should go away
in about
twelve to eighteen
hours. If it doesn’t,
let your
therapist know. You may need
to change exercises or how
you are
exercising.
Results vary depending
upon
the type
of treatment
done and the severity
of symptoms, but a physical
therapist should know in about two
weeks if the
treatment is working or not.
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