Back pain

Dealing with back pain

Keep moving

The evidence is clear that exercise and activity is the best treatment for back pains.  

There is no set approach that has been shown to be the best so feel free to try different types of exercise and activity.  Be guided by what you enjoy and what you feel able to start.  

Consider:

• regular walks. This can be as effective, if not more effective than a strict exercise programme.  Little walks but often throughout the day is usually better than one big outing. 
• over the counter pain relief, to allow you to move normally. Consult your pharmacist for help if needed.
• continuing with your day-to-day life as much as possible.
• exercising as much as your symptoms allow.. 

Remember pain does not mean you are damaging your back, it will hurt as you move back to health. If you are not starting to get better in 1-2 weeks, or your pain is severe, consider contacting your GP practice. 

Go back to your normal activities

Return to your normal daily activities as soon as you can. If your back pain means you need a break from work, study, or other responsibilities, try to get back to your usual routine as soon as it feels manageable.

Posture

There isn’t a single ‘perfect’ posture. What matters most is changing your position often and keeping your body moving.

We often change our posture when in pain and this is entirely natural.  If these changes become a habit, or we avoid moving normally from fear of flaring the pains, we can slow our recovery. 

• Listen to your body but be aware that mild pain from getting active is the norm. 
• Try to avoid bracing yourself or changing your posture on purpose before/during movements.  
• Keep changing your position and posture frequently.  Your best posture is your next posture. 

Lifting

Heavy lifting may be challenging but try to continue lifting. Start with lighter things and build up. Lifting is entirely safe and not a cause of structural concern.  

Try to return to normal activities, including lifting, as soon as your pains allow.  

If you have to do lots of lifting at home or at work, consider if you are generally fit enough to do this or not. If you have done this work for a long time, you have likely built up the fitness to do it.  Changing the method of lifting is not the key and we know we can give people more back pain if we focus on unnatural lifting techniques. Instead, consider how to build back up to this in a gradual manner. 

Hands on treatments: 

There is lots of evidence to show that massage and mobilisation treatments do offer pain relief but this is short lived and should only be used as an adjunct.  It should not be the only treatment method used. 

What about persisting pain?

Some people do experience pains that last for far longer than they would expect and this can be very hard to understand and manage. For lots of information and support about pains that have continued for many months, please see our persistent pain pages. If you have not seen a healthcare professional though, please explore that first.