3 Steps for Overcoming Back Pain
Back pain is one of the most common issues people face, but effective recovery is rarely about just treating the pain itself. Lasting relief comes from addressing the underlying causes and improving how the body functions as a whole. Here are three essential steps that I take as a physical therapist to help patients overcome back pain:
Boost Circulation- Let Blood Flow Do Its Job
Improve Mobility- Get Your Joints and Muscles Moving
Build Strength- A Stronger Body Is a More Resilient Body
1. Boost Circulation
Restoring circulation to affected areas helps reduce pain and promote healing. Techniques like dry needling, cupping therapy, and targeted massage can stimulate blood flow, decrease muscle tension, and support tissue recovery. Blood flow brings oxygen and nutritents to help restore injured. tissue These treatments are especially effective when combined with movement and exercise.
2. Improve Mobility
Restricted movement in the hips, pelvis, or segments of back can place excessive stress on the lower back, forcing it to compensate and take on more force than it’s designed to handle. By improving joint mobility and soft tissue flexibility in these regions, we reduce that added demand and help the spine move more efficiently and safely. Oftentimes the root of pain is not coming directly from the area you feel pain. If you experience lower back pain, it is critical to address the mid back (thoracic spine) and hips to identify limitations that may be sneaky contributing factors.
3. Build Strength Through Resistance Training
Building strength, power, and muscular endurance plays a major role in long-term back health. Resistance training—especially when focused on the low back, glutes, and stabilizing muscles—enhances the body’s resilience and ability to tolerate everyday loads. This makes the back more capable and less prone to injury or flare-ups. Strength builds resilience. It is critical to follow a strength program that is well rounded and addresses the main movement patterns that we endure throughout life: pushing, pulling, hinging, squatting, lunging, rotating.
When these three areas—blood flow, mobility, and strength—are addressed together, back pain often becomes much more manageable, if not entirely resolved. A personalized, movement-based approach is key to not just relieving symptoms but preventing them from coming back. A plan of care at The Movement Solution encompasses these three pillars in a way that allows people to gain a full understanding of the road to recovery.
