Back pain advice video

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Tim Allardyce, a physiotherapist and osteopath at Croydon Physiotherapy, gives his expert advice on coping with back pain. 

Tim says: 'My initial advice if you are suffering with back pain is to keep your back mobile. If you are in so much pain that you just have to be in bed then that's fine, but as soon as you can you need to be up on your feet and gently moving around.

'Don't do any lifting. If you lift you are likely to strain or hurt the back further. Be very careful bending your back - things such as picking your bath mat up, cleaning your teeth, doing any household chores such as ironing or filling the dishwater - they all involve bending, and as you bend your back you put a lot of strain on it. This can make your problems much much worse.

'I often tell my patients to try some ice and heat on the back. Five minutes of ice on the base of the spine - you can use frozen peas or an ice bag wrapped in a frozen towel - followed by 20 minutes of a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel placed on the base of the spine will help reduce inflammation. Some people just find heat useful as heat can feel very comforting and it can help the mobility in the spine.'

'Most back pain is not caused by serious diseases so you don't have to be immediately alarmed. A lot of people are not sure if they should see their GP or physiotherapist. Most back pain will get better on its own, without treatment, in about 30 days.

'If you choose to see a physiotherapist they will take a case history, ask you questions about your lifestyle and about what you might have done to aggravate your back pain. They'll try to get to the root cause of why you're getting back pain.

'They may choose to loosen up a muscle to stretch the back, or mobilise the back to loosen up any stiff joints. They may exercise the back or train it to be stronger or stretch it to be looser. Ultrasound or electric therapy can help reduce inflammation as well. They may also reccommend in the gym and using Pilates-style strengthening exercises to train core muscles and to strengthen  back muscles so your back can be supported and strong.

'The back pain has to be pretty severe before a surgeon will consider operating on you and you really need to have gone for a course of rehabilitation. Most surgical operations take place because a disc has prolapsed. Physiotherapy can be massively important in rehabilitating your back pain to save you from having surgery.'

Where to next

Back pain - the facts 

Relieving back pain 

Protect your back