Why massage matters when it comes to low back pain....

High chance you know someone who is experiencing low back pain. Perhaps it is you who is experiencing pain. Be it through exercise, work or lifestyle choices, lower back pain is prevalent in our society.

According to the British Occupational Health Research Foundation (http://www.bohrf.org.uk), back pain

• Affects 40% of the population

• Causes the loss of 50 mil working days

• Costs about £5 billion (or £200 for every employee) in sickness absence costs. Source: Clinical Standards Advisory Group

That is a huge amount of people. The trouble is, many people think it is something we should live with. Perhaps in some instances you have been to the physio, chiropractor or the osteopath but whilst the pain went away afterwards in the long term it has returned. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Causes of low back pain

There are many causes of back pain. Sudden injury or trauma, chronic repetitive misuse or habitual poor posture are the some of the main reasons. All can cause tension and restrictions to the muscles, ligaments and fascia. Many of these more subtle 'soft tissue' injuries can be overlooked by doctors and can lead to people suffering with chronic pain unnecessarily for years. Fortunately, through clinical massage this can be resolved.

Trigger point therapy

Trigger points is the clinical term for 'knots' in our muscles. Studies suggest that trigger points are a component of up to 93% of the pain seen in pain clinics and the sole cause of such pain as much as 85% of the time. (Gershwin; Fishbain quoted in Travell and Simons: Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The trigger point manual Volume 1). Trigger points are known to cause and contribute to pain conditions in all areas of the body including lower back, neck, head, shoulders, arms, hands, legs and feet. They are also key to treating pathologies such as TMJ, headaches, migraines, arthritis, nausea, dry cough, congestion and fibromyalgia

One of the key things to note about trigger points is that they can cause pain in a distant location to where the trigger point is. This is why when we treat our clients we do so using an holistic approach, working over the whole area and not just concentrating on where the pain is coming from. For example, clients presenting with pain in the thumb and first finger, which is often misdiagnosed as RSI or carpal tunnel syndrome, can be attributed to trigger points in the scalene muscles of your neck.

Within the context of the lower back, trigger points can be found in places such at buttocks, stomach muscles or even the calves. The main muscles of this area which have the most trigger points, are the Erector Spinae (along your spine), Piriformis which when tight can mimic sciatica (buttock area), Psoas (an anterior deep muscle), glutes, Quadratus Lumborus (lateral aspect of your back). According to Janet Travel, one of the leading pioneers of Trigger Point therapy “ The Quadratus Lumborum muscle is one of the most overlooked muscular sources of low back pain and is often responsible, through satellite gluteus minimus trigger points for ‘pseudo disc syndrome’ and the ‘failed’ surgical disc syndrome’.”

The role of fascia

For many fascia is an unknown. When we think of the body we think of bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons...but fascia? So what is it. Fascia refers to the connectives tissues that surround every structure of the body. If we pull or tear this structure, it can cause restrictions and tightening in other areas leading to pain and decreased mobility.

Fascia in the lower back has many pain receptors and during the inflammatory processes the sensitivity is enhanced (1). Other studies show that micro injuries within the fascia can be a direct cause of back pain (2)

The Jing Method™

As an Advanced Clinical Massage therapist I am trained in the award winning Jing Method. This approach has pioneered a simple yet highly effective protocol for treating common pain conditions.

These have been tried and tested on thousands of people over 20 years with amazing results. It uses a combination of the best advanced soft tissue techniques, such as fascial work, trigger point therapy, acupressure, stretching with a truly holistic approach based on the biopsychosocial model of pain and modern neuroscience.

Effective with most types of chronic musculoskeletal pain including; back pain, sciatica, neck pain, whiplash, migraines, frozen shoulder, sports injuries, knee pain, ligament and tendon issues. As well as systemic conditions like fibromyalgia, myofascial pain syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and plantar fasciitis.

The Jing Method™ is a partnership between patient and practitioner where a six session treatment plan is designed to increase your mobility, agility, and joint range of motion (ROM), whilst focussing on decreasing your daily pain.

If you are in pain, please get in touch to see if these techniques can help you.

Phone: 07920194241

Email: bloomandgrowmassage@yahoo.com

1. Tesarz J, Tachuchi T, Mense S. Die Fascia thoracolumbalis als potentielle Ursache für Rückenschmerzen. Manuelle Medizin 2008; 46: 259

Schleip R et al. Letter to the Editor concerning “A hypothesis of chronic back pain: ligament subfailure injuries lead to

2. muscle control dysfunction” (M. Panjabi). European Spine Journal 2007; 16: 1733-1735 Article (PubMed)