Top 3 Ways to Ease Low Back Pain According to Research

Low back pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints worldwide. It’s estimated that up to 84% of adults experience it in their lifetime.

We want to know WHY we have low back pain, but most cases (90%!!) are classified as nonspecific, meaning no there no specific underlying issue (fracture, muscle tear, specific dysfunction). Even when imaging studies (x-rays, CT, MRI) are performed, 90-95% of the time they won’t change the treatment plan. The good news is, there are well studied ways to avoid/reduce nonspecific low back pain:

  1. Get off that BUTT

    • Exercise is consistently recommended as a first-line treatment for chronic low back pain. I get it. I can be lazy, too. But it’s true until robots can exercise for us.

      • No single type is superior! Find something you like so that you’ll stick with it.

  2. Get into your HEAD

    • Mindfulness, therapy, and meditation make a significant difference with pain, even short term pain relief. Some helpful apps:

      • Curable: great for chronic pain

      • Re-origin App: focuses on neuroplasticity-based techniques for chronic symptoms: pain, anxiety, fatigue.

    • Learn more about why you have any kind of pain: research tells us that that actually helps even before we do any other therapies. I’m here to help you find clues about what’s happening and how to calm it down. You can also check out these books. Just avoid advice from fitness influencers who often chase clicks with controversial opinions:

      • Explain Pain (David Butler and Lorimer Moseley): my absolute favorite resource explaining how pain works in the brain and body

      • Healing Back Pain (Dr. John Sarno): focuses on the emotional roots of pain (yes, it sounds wild, but disagree with me only after you’ve read it!)

  3. Get help

    • Getting adjusted alongside exercise and psychological therapy yields the best outcome for pain + disability.

    • Acupuncture, Physical Therapy, and Massage are also great therapies: we’re all on the same team to calm your angry low back muscles and reducing your nervous system’s danger mode.

    • I’m listing this last because it shouldn’t be the only thing you do. It can be the first when you are in a lot of pain, but it works best when you’re getting off your butt and you’re working on your head.

<3 Dr. Laura

Sources

Malfliet, A., Ickmans, K., Huysmans, E., Coppieters, I., Willaert, W., Van Bogaert, W., Rheel, E., Bilterys, T., Van Wilgen, P., & Nijs, J. (2019). Best Evidence Rehabilitation for Chronic Pain Part 3: Low Back Pain. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 8. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm8071063.

Qaseem, A., Wilt, T., McLean, R., & Forciea, M. (2017). Noninvasive Treatments for Acute, Subacute, and Chronic Low Back Pain: A Clinical Practice Guideline From the American College of Physicians.. Annals of internal medicine, 166 7, 514-530 . https://doi.org/10.7326/M16-2367.

Van Middelkoop, M., Rubinstein, S., Kuijpers, T., Verhagen, A., Ostelo, R., Koes, B., & Van Tulder, M. (2010). A systematic review on the effectiveness of physical and rehabilitation interventions for chronic non-specific low back pain. European Spine Journal, 20, 19 - 39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-010-1518-3.

Laura Rainey