Welcome back to another week of discussion here on the ARC blog! Hopefully everyone is staying healthy and active during this time. Last week we discussed directional preference as part of diagnosing low back pain and how this helps to classify patients into subgroups to better help your therapist treat you. We gave you some

According to the Journal of Orthopedic Sports Physical Therapy (JOSPT), “Low back pain is the leading cause of activity, limitation and work absence throughout much of the world and is associated with an enormous economic burden”. The journal also notes that likelihood of recurring episodes of low back pain to range from 24-33% over a

This is a hard one. There have been many times I’ve heard from patients with chronic back symptoms, “I just want to get an MRI so that I know what is wrong with my back.” We all have a desire for understanding and clarity. Our brains are wired to close loops. We like to read

How many of us get on google to self-diagnose ourselves, only to come away convinced that we either have cancer or a tumor? Now, I do not want to make light of any of those conditions, sadly I have had experiences with patients coming in for what initially seemed like a routine musculoskeletal condition end

So, what’s causing my back pain? Short answer. I don’t know. Long answer. It’s complicated. Let us start by just throwing out this table, which since it was published by Brinjikji et al. in 2015 has been cited almost 500 times. What this study did was fascinating. It took healthy adults in multiple age groups

Now that we know that low back pain is common and that most people are going to recover, one big question might be on everyone’s mind: how do I prevent it in the first place? What are the risk factors? If I sat for 3 days working on a puzzle during the coronavirus pandemic is

So now that we have discussed that the prevalence of low back pain is fairly common, let’s take a look at the natural course and prognosis of low back pain. First, we need to recognize that there are two different time frames to consider for back pain, acute and chronic. Generally, we define acute back

With the coronavirus pandemic still wreaking havoc on our social, economical, and financial system; I’ve decided to start writing about another epidemic that has plagued our health care system for the last few decades: Low Back Pain. Low back pain is one of the most challenging conditions that we treat as physical therapists. I’d like