• Things you might be feeling?

Whether acute of persistent, there is no doubt lower back pain can be debilitating and very concerning. Back pain varies greatly from person to person. You may be experiencing some low-level tightness or aching in the lower back or more intermittent sharp pain. The pain may be quite local to your lower back or it could be referring in to the buttocks or even down the leg.

Sciatica is normally characterised by quite linear pain travelling down one leg, normally into the thigh, calf and/or foot. It is normally described as sharp, shooting, electric or burning type pain. You may also experience sensation changes like pins and needles, numbness or tingling.​

• Things you might be struggling with?

If you are experiencing back pain, it can often feel like there aren’t many things that don’t aggravate it. You might experience pain with bending, twisting, and lifting, particularly heavier objects. Walking could aggravate symptoms for some people but may relieve symptoms for others. Similarly, being sedentary, so sitting or lying for prolonged periods could increase pain for some whilst relieve pain for others. Given the variability in back pain symptoms it is vital that you seek helps from somebody that really listens to you, so that you can work together to relive your symptoms as soon as possible.

• How I can help

Your symptoms require an in-depth assessment. We'll often start with you telling me about your experience, followed by a few questions about your problem.

At this point we should have a good idea about what is causing your problem. We are then likely to complete a physical examination. During the physical examination we will work together to really pinpoint your area of pain. Importantly, we will go through the activities you struggling with to see if we can adapt them in some way to improve your pain in your first session. This should also mean you can keep you doing the activity rather than stopping completely.

Once we've done this we can consider a bespoke treatment plan, tailored exactly to your needs. This can be done both in person and online.

In most cases, physiotherapy will be an appropriate first line treatment prior to considering more invasive action like injection or surgery.

• Common back conditions:

• Acute lower back pain

• Disc herniation

• Lumbar stenosis

• Lumbar osteoarthritis

• Osteoporosis

• Scoliosis

• Spinal fracture

• Post surgical conditions