BACKWORKS -THE BACK & NECK PAIN CLINIC

Rehabilitation is not handing out a few simple exercises or laying on your back with your knees bent and rocking side to side. Rehabilitation is not giving out a booklet on low back pain and sending you away. Rehabilitation is not gardening, it is not going for a swim or a once a week Pilate's class followed by a coffee.

To reduce specific episodes of low back pain the focus needs to be spinal endurance (this is an excellent but very technical study highlighting the complexity of rehabilitation) with a specific structured program targeting key spinal muscles tailored to your needs and it needs to be done daily. By the same token it need not be too time consuming, ideally only a few minutes a day to maximise compliance.

Here is another excellent but technical study outlining the complexity of factors as to why back pain occurs. Flexibility is important to help get you over an episode of pain but it has little impact in the long-term if you want to reduce the frequency, severity and duration of future episodes of low back pain.