Understanding Back Pain: Clearing Up Misconceptions and Finding Solutions

Back pain is often misunderstood. Misconceptions about diagnoses and treatments can lead to unnecessary fear and confusion - making an already tough situation even harder.

At Outlive Performance Physical Therapy, we’re here to help. As expert physical therapists, we know how to identify when back pain is serious and might need care beyond physical therapy. But most importantly, we’re here to guide you toward the right solution, so you can move forward with confidence and less pain.

A few reasons which would warrant an outside referral for back pain may include: 

• If you have lost bowel/bladder control (go to the ER please) or lost foot control (foot drop) 

• Significant traumatic event

• Progressive loss of strength** (this would need to be evaluated to determine if an immediate concern) 

Some common back pain diagnoses physical therapy can help with:

• Disc herniations

• Osteoporosis

• Stenosis

• Radiculopathy (numbness/tingling)

• Muscles strains/spasms

Most of the time, however, we are less concerned with your “diagnosis” and more concerned with how you move, your pain presentations, what you’re currently doing/aren’t doing, and overall lifestyle. Most back pain is multifactorial, and typically, these diagnoses do not represent the full picture. 

Do I need an x-ray or MRI?

Fifty percent of people over the age of 30 will have some degree of disc degeneration. As we age, this number increases. It’s important to understand that changes in discs and your spine are a normal process of aging and are not always the sole source of your pain.1  

When evaluating whether you need a back x-ray, we will want to know if you have any of the previous mentioned reasons for a referral and if you have had a traumatic event and/or poor bone health. If you don’t meet these criteria, you probably don’t need one! If these red flags have been ruled out, an x-ray won’t provide us with any information that would change our course of treatment. Chances are that your x-ray will just show normal variants that can be found from aging.

Please not that this would be a discussion we would have during your first session. If there is cause of concern, we make sure to refer you for further workup.  

1. Brinjikji W, Luetmer PH, Comstock B, Bresnahan BW, Chen LE, Deyo RA, Halabi S, Turner JA, Avins AL, James K, Wald JT. Systematic literature review of imaging features of spinal degeneration in asymptomatic populations. American journal of neuroradiology. 2015 Apr 1;36(4):811-6.

“I threw my back out!” - What now?

• Breathe 

• Give it time

• Move! As much as possible, as often as you can. Consider this active rest. If you’re not sure what movements, we can help! 

Why and how do i throw my back out?

Typically, this isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last if you don’t change something.

You didn’t throw your back out picking up something from the ground, or rolling over in bed. This has been building over time. Something in your environment or routine has been creating this issue for a long time.

This is where we come in! We will help you get out of pain, but we will also dig deeper into why this is occurring. We will do a thorough exam and history to look at many factors including stress, sleep, physical activity, exercise program, injury history, mobility/strength limitations, etc. All these factors can influence risk for back pain. 

Why Choose Us?

We go beyond surface-level diagnoses to create a personalized plan that helps you move better, feel stronger, and get back to doing what you love - without unnecessary guesswork.

Don’t let back pain limit your life. Click below to schedule your assessment and discover how we can help!