Sunderland Integrated Musculoskeletal Service (Sunderland IMS) is a NHS service that provide specialist and comprehensive assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal conditions to patients of Sunderland.
If you are suffering from back pain, Sunderland IMS have provided simple back information, advice and examples of exercises that may be useful to help with your recovery. Please see the back pain information below to get started today.
8 out of 10 people in the UK will suffer from Back Pain at some time in their lives.
There are many causes of back pain affecting us regardless of age. Whilst this can be very painful and inconvenient it is reassuring to know that most people’s back pain will settle down within 6-8 weeks.
In most cases, people suffering back pain will not need to see a physiotherapist and by keeping active and using over the counter painkillers their problem will settle. For those few of us in whom pain is severe and persists then they should seek medical advice for further treatment.
Back pain is usually short-lived, and most people will see a huge improvement in their back pain by doing the following:
If you are not starting to notice an improvement in pain within a few weeks you should contact your GP. Pain does NOT mean you are causing any harm, your back may be painful as you “move back to health”.
Very rarely, nerves in the back can become compressed and this could occur to the part of the spinal that controls bowel and bladder function. Therefore If you suffer from any of the symptoms below, please refer to the patient information leaflet – click here.
Information explaining warning signs to watch out for are in other languages via this link.
When you have back pain it is important that you “keep moving”. For some people this could be going for a walk, housework, gym or even running. Typically, we would encourage a combination of aerobic activity, such as swimming, running, cycling, and strength-based exercises such as the Gym, Pilates or Yoga. Even if this causes some discomfort, KEEP MOVING!
It is normal in the early stages of back pain to do less, but this does NOT mean you have to stop. It is acceptable to reduce the intensity or duration of your daily activities, whether this is pacing housework by spreading it over multiple days.
As your symptoms start to improve, you can then increase your activity levels again and return to hobbies or more challenging activities.
For some useful exercises for back pain – please follow the links below:
For gentler exercises start with: Exercises for lower back
Once the basic exercises are tolerated and able to be performed please progress to: Back Class Exercise Circuit by clicking here
Work environments can vary significantly for each person, whether this is desk based and sitting for long periods or manual work involving lots of lifting and carrying. The important things to remember are that our backs are like any other muscles in our bodies and can become tired.
We would always encourage individuals to try and change postures regularly to reduce prolonged strain on our backs. This can be done by getting up and moving around every 30 mins when working at a desk or by straightening up if in prolonged bent over periods,
Desk layouts can be assessed by Occupational Health departments and with advice from the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) – www.hse.gov.uk
Or we would recommend speaking to your line manager at work.
Repeated lifting of objects can place more strain on your back and we would always encourage good back health. To do this we would recommend being aware of our postures when lifting, keeping objects close to our bodies and avoiding excessive bending or twisting. This is to make sure you have a good control over the object you are lifting.
Please note –
These are general exercises, seek advice if you are unsure.
If you would like a PDF version of the exercises available on this page, enter your email address below and we will send it directly to your email.
