As a massage therapists, my clients sometimes have me on a retainer, so most of them are actually receiving preventative care against aches and pains. They also seem to be the people who regularly exercise and take care of themselves better.
I do have other clients who use my services at regular intervals, but who tend to call mostly when they are already experiencing pain. For those clients, besides regular massage, I also prescribe exercise and stretches that help alleviate their lower back pain.
It would seem that I am not the only one who understands the benefits of exercise for people who suffer with Lower Back Pain.
From Medpage Today, Sarah Wickline Wallan
“Exercise, especially when combined with education, was shown to help reduce lower-back pain, but shoe insoles, back belts, ergonomic interventions, or education alone had little effect, researchers reported.
Exercise reduced the risk of lower-back pain episodes by 35% and the risk of sick leave over lower-back pain by 78%, and when combined with education, the risk reduction for the prevention of episodes for up to 1 year was as high as 45%, Daniel Steffens, PhD, of the University of Sydney in Australia, and colleagues, reported in JAMA Internal Medicine.
“The benefits were fairly consistent across studies, and the effect size was large enough to have clinical and policy importance,” Timothy S. Carey, MD, MPH, and Janet K. Freburger, PhD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, wrote in an editorial in JAMA Internal Medicine. “Exercise alone or in combination with education is effective for preventing LBP [lower-back pain].”
When I have a client who spends most of their day either on their feet, or sitting at a desk with very little movement, he or she invariably suffers with lower back pain. If I can convince them to get up and move periodically when they sit too much, or vice versa when they are on their feet for too long, this always helps.
