How Physical Therapy Cured My Lower Back Pain

The pains of WFH

WFH has become a ubiquitous acronym off late. I had mixed feelings about the “Work from home” model ever since it became mainstay in my company over the last year. When the firm announced a permanent WFH option for those in my department, I decided to put my feelings in ink.

I brought out the pen and paper and wrote down the pros and cons. While the pros easily outnumbered the cons, they didn’t outweigh them. There was one con in particular that weighed heavy on the back of my mind, my lower back.

Denial of pain 

You read about all the ill effects of your poor lifestyle habits but continue by telling yourself that this does not apply to me, that this will not happen to me. I knew that my lifestyle had become increasingly sedentary even before WFH exacerbated the situation but never gave it much thought. I could hear my lower back whimper every time I sat down for far too long but I ignored its feeble cry.

One morning however when I woke up with my lower back screaming. It was stiffer than a dried out tree branch. I realized that living in denial meant living with worsening lower back pain. I decided to heed its bellowing. 

Temporary measures

I reached out to my family doctor who had me undergo a battery of tests. I was put through MRI scans, X-rays while my blood was broken down into its bare constituents to root out nutritional inadequacies. When the doctor said that all the results were negative and that I had nothing to worry about, I worried even more. I think this was the first time in my life I was disappointed with negative medical results.

The doctor told me that there was no indication of pain. To quell my whining and complaining, he prescribed me pain killers and sent me on my way back home. Over the next few days, I popped the pain killers and the pain would dissipate. This worked, for a while.

The painkillers worked by numbing my back and masking the pain. The medicines attacked the symptom but ignored the cause. I went back to the doctor who remained dismissive of my pain and simply prescribed more medicines. Disillusioned, I left the clinic and begin scouring the internet.

Permanent cure

I came across myriad options; acupuncture, reiki, homeopathy, Ayurveda and many others. I was however as skeptical of these as the doctor was of my back pain; I wanted something more practical. I stumbled on to that something when I discovered Healthloft which offered physical therapy for back pain.

Skeptical but desperate, I signed up for an initial assessment with a physical therapist. They say you only get one chance to make a good first impression and Health Loft grabbed that opportunity with both hands. From the outset, they delivered and then some more.

The physical therapist conducted a full assessment to test my coordination, motion and mobility. She also dived into the history of my back pain, evaluated my lifestyle and worked out the origins of my back pain. She explained to me that unexplained back pain was a common complaint. It is largely the result of poor posture and is something that can be corrected in the long run through physical therapy for back pain.

Realistic healing

I remember walking out of the clinic that day in pain and yet smiling because for the first time, in the longest time, I felt hopeful and confident. What really convicted me about Healthloft was their assertion that while healing was possible, realistic healing takes time and effort. Physical therapy for back pain works only if work for it; there is no miracle pill.

Over the next few weeks, the therapist and I went through a series of exercises and posture changes that addressed my weaker areas. At home, I would do the exercises she suggested through their mobile application.

Slowly but surely my mobility and strength improved. Slowly but surely my pain and suffering reduced until one day I woke up feeling absolutely no pain in my back; a feeling I had not experienced in years. I continued for a few more weeks at Healthloft till I started jumping out of bed like a loaded catapult.