Lower back pain
Lower back pain is one of the most common reasons people end up at a chiropractor. At Johnston Chiropractie on Lylantse Plein in Capelle aan den IJssel, we start by working out what is actually going on, and why.
Does this sound familiar?
People arrive with very different stories. Often it sounds like this:
- You wake up stiff and it takes half an hour before you move freely
- The pain travels into your buttock or down your leg
- Bending, or standing up from a chair, is the worst moment of the day
- It started after lifting something heavy, or after a long drive
- It has been there for months, it comes and goes, and you have got used to it
That last one we hear more often than you would expect. A complaint that keeps returning quietly becomes part of your daily life, right up until the day it does not.
Does the pain run down your leg? Read about a herniated disc and sciatica.
When not to wait
Speak to your GP first if your back pain comes with any of these:
- Loss of strength or feeling in a leg or foot
- Numbness around the saddle area, between your legs
- Trouble passing urine or with your bowels
- Fever, or weight loss you cannot explain
- Back pain after a fall, an accident or a heavy impact
These need medical assessment first. Chiropractic is not the first step in those cases.
Chiropractor or physiotherapist?
Anyone looking for help with back pain runs into both, and it is easy to be unsure which one you actually need.
Chiropractor
Looks first at how your joints move and how your nervous system responds to that.
Physiotherapist
Generally works more through exercise and building up what your body can handle.
In practice the two overlap, and we combine treatment with rehabilitation exercises where that makes sense.
What you get here first is an assessment. If that shows you would be better off with someone else, we will say so.
What we do about lower back pain
The aim is always the same: bring movement back where it has been lost.
Assessment
We ask about when it started, what makes it worse and what eases it. Then we look at how you move: your lower back, your pelvis and your hips, because those three work as one and a problem in any of them tends to show up in the others.
Treatment
Depending on what we find, we work with chiropractic adjustments, soft tissue treatment, and where it helps, dry needling or taping.
Exercise and building back up
Treatment on its own rarely lasts. You leave with exercises suited to your situation, so what we achieve in the practice stays with you once you are back at work.
What to expect
Your first appointment takes longer than the ones after it, because the assessment makes up most of it. You will hear what we have found, and what we suggest, the same day.
How many appointments someone needs varies too much to put a number on in advance. Some people come for a short stretch, others choose ongoing care because they know their back is better for it. What we will always do is tell you where you stand.
We tell you what we expect and when we will look at it again.
Booking an appointment in Capelle aan den IJssel
The practice is at Lylantse Plein 1, in the Home4Care building, with parking at the door. Treatment is available in Dutch and in English.
You are just as welcome coming from Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel, Krimpen aan den IJssel or Rotterdam: the practice is a few minutes away. If you play sport and it flares up after training or lifting, read about sports chiropractic as well.