My client came in presenting with lower back pain she first experienced ten years ago. Over the years it had intermittently returned and became increasingly worse five years ago when she was pregnant with her twins. This pain was very consistent and frustrating to my client as she is an active person and felt like she couldn’t do anything without aggravating it. She felt like it was ruling her life. Upon assessment I noticed she was lacking a lot of strength and activation through her lower back muscles and gluteals (bottom muscles). Because of this, she was also very unstable and inflamed through her lumbar (facet) joints.
The first step in her treatment plan was to control and reduce her inflamed lower back facet joints with some icing. Regular icing throughout the week would significantly reduce her inflamed joints and allow her muscles to function more efficiently. For treatment I used deep tissue massage on her surrounding lower back and gluteal muscles, this allowed her to activate the areas better and as part of her plan included some dry needle therapy to specifically release the inflamed painful areas in her back without aggravating it too much. Lastly, I consulted her personal trainer with the information I had gathered and set up a good rehabilitation program for our client.
The goal of our treatment is to extend the relief period after every session by a couple of days. After our first session her relief was for two days and after the second session it was for five days. We are currently still doing treatment sessions with the goal increasing relief periods to two weeks. The most important part of our treatment plan is getting my client to be able to exercise without experiencing pain. Myotherapy treatment along with corrective exercises overseen by her personal trainer, have allowed my client to have a promising pain free future.
By Robert Parry – Elite Myotherapist
