Low Back Pain

An Integrative, Occupational Therapy and Lifestyle Medicine Approach

 
 
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$195

student discounts apply

location & DATE

to be advised

This half day workshop will delve into an integrative and holistic look at low back pain.

“I just bent down to pick up a piece of paper and my back went”

“I just felt my back twinge while I was walking and now it hurts all the time”

“It just went into spasm while I was lifting a shopping bag into the car”

“I just woke up with pain in my back”

These are all extremely common complaints that we have all heard time and time again.  In fact, low back pain is so common you are more likely to have had back pain at some point in your life than not; 70 - 90% of people will suffer from low back pain in some form at some point in their lives.  

So why do some people get better with a few days of rest and a massage and others take years of treatment, medications, even surgery with minimal progress?  Why do we see those with no pathology on x-ray/scans have debilitating pain and dysfunction and those with severe pathology run marathons or return to heavy work duties with no difficulties?  

It seems to be that when we are dealing with the condition of being human, the cause and the solution for low back pain could possibly be different and unique for each person. The purely biomechanical, muscoloskeletal paradigm often falls short, leaving people searching high and low for answers.  So where do we look to help these patients? 

There is currently no 100% fail safe “cure” for low back pain.  However, in my experience, the more we can take a truly integrative and holistic approach, not only to the person’s back injury, but to the whole person and their lifestyle, we can improve outcomes. 

This workshop will further explore the data, research and clinical examples to provoke thinking into where those solutions may lie.

  • Postural and Breathing assessment - what to look for and what it tells you about the person physically and mentally. Review of DNS approach and the postural stabilising function of the diaphragm. Assessment of function and co-ordination of breathing patterns. Common dysfunctional movement/compensatory patterns. Relationship of breathing pattern with stress responses in the body.

  • Hands on assessment and treatment - Concepts of hyper tonic verses hypotonic muscles and the functional implications. Trigger point release and neuromuscular release of major muscle groups and facia impacting the lower back.

  • Treatment planning - Normalisation of compensatory movement and breathing patterns. Strategies for treatment planning and home programs.

  • Lifestyle Causes - looking for the cause of the cause when analysing people’s lives and the contributing factors to low back pain, both acute and chronic.