It may seem obvious, but one place to start when we are talking about pain, is to define it.
Pain is an uncomfortable, often nasty sensation or feeling that tells you something may be wrong in your body. It is a very personal response that is both physical and emotional. Your pain belongs to you, and how you feel it, and how you grade it, comes down to your own experiences. Your pain may occur suddenly or come about slowly. It may range from mild to severe. You are the best judge of your own pain.
When you have what is called 'acute low back pain', it's often the result of some sort of trauma, or other pathology. A twist, lift, accident, or overuse problem. Some people can even cause an acute strain to their back just from the way they have slept, or sat.Relief from acute pain is very important, and a big part of pain relief, is understanding what is causing your pain. You may know that you have twisted, slept differently, or even that the pain came on with really no reason, but when you understand the likely cause, and what is happening inside your body, you can do something about it.
It goes without saying, that most people who have severe back pain are worried about what is wrong with them. This causes stress, because we are all scared of the unknown. Stress causes us to tense up, and if you have acute back pain, you probably already have muscles in your back going in to spasm. So any stress and worry on top, will make you feel worse.
So, it will help your recovery to understand why you are getting pain. This is probably the main reason that early appointments with a qualified primary care practitioner are so important. Getting a diagnosis, knowing the likelihood of the cause, and what you can do about it, will almost certainly decrease your pain.
There are many routes to getting an opinion. Depending on which country you live in there are various first contact practitioners you can see. If you read some booklets, and listen to some opinions you will hear advice that you should go to a medical doctor first. However, what you choose to do is down to you. One choice is a UK Physiotherapist, who is trained within the orthodox medical paradigm.
In the UK, a professional Physiotherapist has a primary care role. This is quite different from the role of a Physiotherapist in many European Countries, where you can only see or be treated by a Physiotherapist after a medical referral.
In the UK a Physiotherapist has a degree level training, and since the 1970's has been an autonomous profession. So Physiotherapists are primary care practitioners. They are a first contact profession, who can sign you off work, refer you for Xray, ultrasound scan and more.
A UK health professions council registered Physiotherapist has more training in musculoskeletal medicine than the average GP.
Nowadays it is even getting more common for people to be able to get NHS paid direct access to a Physiotherapist. There are many pilot NHS projects to help people to get NHS paid professional Physiotherapist advice, without the gatekeeper role of the medical practitioner.
However, in most areas the NHS doesn't pay for this excellent service, so you will have to pay.
The good news is, that if you book with a UK Physiotherapist you will almost certainly receive a full Orthopaedic examination in the just the same manner that you would from an Orthopaedic Surgeon.
Expect to be with your Physiotherapist for an hour at the first appointment. If you want to know more visit my other blog What Do Physiotherapists Do
