Back pain can be caused by something:

• physical (like a fall, car accident, or even from being sedentary (not moving enough)

• emotional (stress has a huge impact on the spine)

• systemic or visceral; (organ referrals) or

• chemical (eg poor diet, dehydration, prolonged pharmaceutical use, antibiotics etc)

• Pregnany associated back pain

Back pain can start for seemingly no reason at all...

• Acute pain
  Acute pain means the pain is short in duration (3-6mths). Acute pain also tends to be related to a soft-tissue injury or a temporary illness, so it typically subsides after the injury heals or the illness subsides. Acute pain from an injury may evolve into chronic pain if the injury doesn’t heal correctly or if the pain signals malfunction. Acute pain is less complicated and much easier to help resolve.

• Chronic pain.
  Duration: longer than 3 months. It can be constant or intermittent (comes and goes). Chronic pain occurs at the spinal cord level (ie it no longer needs a stimuli) so requires retraining of the brain to resolve it; and will require a longer term management plan.

• Neuropathic pain.
  Is often chronic; and is caused by damage to the nerves or nervous system. It is often described as shooting, stabbing, or burning pain. It can feel like pins and needles; or can have a sensory change to hot/cold etc.

• Nociceptive pain
  This type of pain is damage to body tissue - often experienced in the joints, muscles, skin, tendons, and bones. It can be both acute and chronic.

• Radicular pain (eg sciatica)
  This type of pain occurs when the spinal nerve(s) get compressed or inflamed.  You may experience tingling, numbness, and muscle weakness. The widest known example is sciatica - shooting pain down your leg.

Back pain is very common with 1 in 6 Australians reporting having back problems at any one time, that can impact both their physical and mental health.(7) For many, back pain can arise suddenly (acute back pain) but typically improves or resolves within three to six weeks. However, recurrence is common, and some individuals may experience more persistent pain lasting beyond three months.(8)

People experience low back pain in different ways. Most feel pain, stiffness and soreness or find it hard to turn or bend in certain directions. Some say the pain feels like a sharp pain while others report dull aches or spasms. With sciatica, the pain can travel down one or both of the legs. Some people with back pain may feel irritable or short-tempered. Others may worry about whether the pain will control their life, and some experience feelings of helplessness.(9)

We will take a really thorough history to see if we can find the root cause of your problem through your story of what's happened and how you think it's gotten to this point... And then we'll let your body do the talking by conducting a physical assessment (with your permission fo course!), which will include an Orthopaedic and Neuromusculoskeletal examination; postural assessment; and specific chiropractic protocol assessments.

If we require imaging then we will refer you off to a radiology clinic for that to be done; and we'll schedule a follow up appointment to go through all of our findings.

If it's safe to do a chiropractic adjustment (and you would like one) then that will be conducted; and again a follow up appointment a few days later will likely be scheduled to assess the outcome and what might be needed ongoing.

We will create a unique management plan for you. Everyone is different, every management plan is different.

Our goal is to help you to find the root cause of your symptom or sign; and of course to alleviate it.

We want to help you to thrive.

So we will discuss our phases of care. From immediate pain relief & symptom management, to resolution of underlying causes; and finally into maintenance and health optimisation.

We will meet you where you're at. And the type of care you'd like is entirely up to you.

Recommendations are evidence based and unique to you.