You have probably heard many recommendations to help “cure” your low back pain; bed-rest, ice vs. heat, orthotics for your shoes or even back braces. The truth is up to 80% of us will have low back pain at some point in our lives and most will even have recurrent episodes of low back pain. There are many products that are on the market that claim to provide relief of low back back and even more people that have their tried and true remedies for relief. The truth is that many of these products or recommendations have little to no proven benefit based on the credible research that is out there.

Based on a new literature review published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) exercise is the best medicine for treating low back pain. You can read their abstract on the topic here. Although exercise may be the last thing you feel like doing when in pain, and might not be the first thing we implement with your physical therapy, it is the most important part of your rehab program.

Exercise is a huge component in physical therapy for back pain, but as a physical therapist it is our job to properly “dose” your exercise program. There is no set recipe for treatment of back pain because every patient is different. And even though your neighbor (cousin, wife, best friend, etc) had the “same back pain” last year and did exercises X, Y and Z those particular exercises might not be the best for you based on your diagnosis or injury. That is why implementing the best exercises at the right time is our specialty.

Contact us for more information on low back pain to learn how we can help you get back of your feet.

Here is the article from The New York Times that was brought to my attention on the topic of “Exercise to Avoid Back Pain“.