How does lower back pain feel?
Massage for lower back pain can really help. Lower back pain is most often is caused by muscular strain or over work or even bad posture. It generally radiates in the lumber area and can sometimes travel all the way up to your mid back and run down the back of your legs into your feet. It may manifest, making:
- It difficult to put your socks on in the morning
- Painful to bend forward
- Uncomfortable to sit down (it maybe more comfortable to stand depending on the muscle)
- You sometimes feel pain and stiffness in the lower groin area too
- Pain may also be felt in the hip
- You’ve been told you have Sciatica, and nothing helps
- Pain when standing upright
- Pain in the area of the sacrum
Causes lower back pain
- Lifting heavy or awkward items such as bags of cement or moving couches
- Over doing an exercise class such as aerobics
- Sitting at a computer for long periods of time, sitting slightly twisted
- Working in the garden
- Having a traffic accident
- Sitting all day for example driving for long periods of time
- Putting the vacuum cleaner around or sweeping the patio
- You fell skiing a year or so ago and it hasn’t felt right since
The muscles involved in Lower Back Pain
When these muscles knot up, (have trigger points) they can send pain to the lower back area.Muscles that often refer pain to the lower back are:
- Gluteus Medius
- Psoas
- Deep spinal muscles
- Superficial spinal muscles
- Quadratus Lumborum
- Gluteus Maximus
- Rectus Abdominus
- Soleus
How many massages will I need?
It depends on:
- How long you have had lower back pain – the earlier you can get a massage the better. The tension will become less entrenched.
- How painful it is – the more painful it is the more gradual the massage – as the massage needs to be as comfortable as possible,
- Your pain threshold, if you have a low pain threashold we will need to work more slowly to work down through the layers of tension so that the massage is comfortable for you.
- If its an ongoing or long term condition (if you have had back pain for several years) you may consider treating it in a couple of differnt ways. A series of massages once a week until the pain is resolved, then maybe a maintenance massage every now and then to check in. Or a regular massage perhaps every two / three weeks or once a month gradually working to reduce the pain till it eventually disapears followed by a massage to check in every now and then.
But remember everyone is different and treatment will be specific to you