Finally put an end to back pain and sciatica so you can enjoy great night of sleep again, bend without hurting, sit without stiffness, and keep moving like you used to

From the desk of Dr. Maddie Burke

ATTN: Anyone who is tired of having annoying and disrupting lower back pains and that has considered accepting it as a way of life or even "an age-related thing"

When you've got a pain in your back, especially when it doesn't "feel" that serious, all too often it's easy to think that by resting, giving it a break, and "staying off of it," it will feel better and go away on its own after awhile. It's an easy path to follow because that's what you've been told by your parents, friends, and doctor for decades... "Just give it some rest and see how it goes."

Or maybe you've just chalked it up to having "slept on it funny" or that maybe you're just getting older and that this is just something that comes with age.

Or worse.. maybe you've turned to over the counter or prescription pills just to be able to deal with the pain every day so you can try to function normally.

Dealing with the discomfort of back pain might be frustrating, but perhaps the most frustrating thing, though, is that you just don't know why it isn't going away and that maybe you're left feeling confused and frustrated about what to do make it go away.

If this sounds like you, know that this is something we hear often in our office from our clients. In their search for the best relief from the back pain they're experiencing, they’ve read some advice online, visited their doctor, and they were told to “stay off of it” and to “rest”. They may have been told to take some aspirin or given a prescription for some stronger pain meds, and to come back in 4-6 weeks to “see how it’s doing.” Maybe they've also tried some ice packs, heat packs, stretches, or videos they found on YouTube. Sadly, these approaches may help to relieve the pain in the short term, but all they do is mask the pain – they don't actually relieve the underlying cause of the pain!

A few of the things we see often are...

• Lower back stiffness that’s forcing you to “take a break” a number of times every day so you can keep sitting at your desk or standing for a presentation, reducing your productivity and having you worried that your boss will notice!
• Sciatica that's preventing you from getting even just one night of uninterrupted sleep every week, meaning you're tired all day long and can barely function normally with the lack of sleep (and maybe require that Venti latte with an extra shot every day...)
• Sharp pains that keep you from bending over to pick up and hold the kids or grandkids and now you're missing out on family time.
• Herniated disc pain that's stopping you from taking yoga classes like you used to, and now you're giving up the idea of being able to do it again
• Back pain that's so bad that by the time you finish your commute to work, you can barely even sit at your desk long enough to answer your first email.

If any of this sounds like you in your search for relief from back pain, we want you to know that you’re not alone. We’ve heard these kinds of stories many times from our clients. However, we want you to know there is hope to being active, mobile, and feeling great again!

If any of this sounds like you, we would like to invite you to book a call with one of our back pain specialists to learn a little bit more about how we might be able to help. We'll be happy to learn more about your particular situation and help you make the best decision about your health, even if it's not with us. Click the button below to schedule your call now if you'd like to get some helpful advice.

If there is a fire in your kitchen and the smoke alarm is going off, would you put out the fire first? Or waste time trying to disable the alarm?

In our bodies, our pain receptors are like the smoke alarm that signals “hey, something is WRONG over here!” Once in a while, it may send a false alarm, but when it keeps going off… you know there’s a bigger problem to address!

Sadly, the passive approach to constantly quieting the “smoke alarm” in your back is one of the worst things you can do. The real underlying “fire” is still there, and if it isn’t addressed, it may end up getting worse – ultimately taking down other parts of your body with it!

“My back problem isn’t really ‘bad enough’ to warrant seeing someone right now..."

Again, while it might be easy to write it off as maybe just "sleeping on it wrong" or maybe you just "pulled something"... thinking that your pain isn't "bad enough" to see someone might be one of the worst mistakes you could make.

Any pain, no matter how bad it is, should not be ignored in hopes that maybe it will just "go away" on its own or that it's easier to just "deal with it" rather than take the time to fix it. Sadly, it's not an uncommon occurance for us to encounter a client that thought it originally wasn't "bad enough" to see someone at first, but unfortunately rather than getting better, the situation only got worse... and now they're even worse off than when they had started!

Ignoring the pain now means that the longer it goes on, it could begin to affect other parts of your body and even have other joints or muscles deteriorate as they compensate (and maybe over-compensate) for the original problem... leading to more problems!

No matter how 'bad' your pain is, don't wait to get help because it could cost you way more than correcting it early on.

“I’ve already seen a specialist or tried physical therapy...”

Most people believe that physical therapy is all the same and don’t know the amazing benefits that working with a private physical therapist can bring, and frankly, we don’t blame them. It’s hard to know what the best options are for your health these days and what the differences are among them with all of the competing messages… there’s different treatments, different solutions, different practitioners, and different remedies. We understand the difficulty and frustration that all of this information overload can bring when trying to make the best decision about your health.

If you’ve tried physical therapy before, but it just didn’t quite live up to your expectation, know that not all physical therapist clinics are the same and that there is hope! We go beyond what you’d may consider a “typical” physical therapy experience (that you might have experienced in the past...) where you do a few generic stretches with a few basic exercises (maybe even with a bunch of other people at the same time) and you’re expected to feel better.

Our belief is that you deserve better than a “one size fits all” approach. We work with you, one-on-one, to determine the exact root cause of your problem and to develop a completely customized plan tailored to your particular situation. This enables us to really “drill down” to the problem to fix exactly what’s causing the pain or discomfort so you can get back to living a healthy, active, on the go life like you deserve to live.

But what can I do right now to start making my back feel better so I can get return to being active again?

If you're wondering that, here's what you can do right now to get started:

1. First step is to decide on getting help. We’ve heard it so many times... “I wish I hadn’t waited so long to see you...” It’s normal to think that if you just wait a little bit longer, it might start to get better or that it will “go away with time.” Usually, though, the pain is still there 6 months from now, or worse, it’s gotten more intense.
2. Second step is to make sure you’re doing the RIGHT series and progression of exercises and movements that isolate and work the problem area and make it stronger.
3. Thirdly, it seems counterintuitive... but you’ll need to be more active (and avoid staying put or just "resting" for long periods of time!) Limiting your activity can make things “feel” better at first, but does nothing to “solve” the underlying problem.
4. Finally, expert advice and a plan with one of our specialists can help tie all of this together and get you on the “fast track” back to health. We talk to folks from all over Pasadena, Los Angeles, and Southern California that chose to “short circuit” their path to recovery with us and work with us to get back to living life again without interruptions or downtime due to pain, stiffness, and soreness. We'll solve your problem quickly and get you peace of mind so you can focus on the more fun parts of life.

How does a physical therapy session work to ease back pain and what can I expect?

Once you join us for you first session, we can begin to ease your pains right away among a host of other things.

Starting right off the bat in your very first session, we will:

• Help you get peace of mind by determining the root cause of your pain and why you’re still experiencing it (all within your first visit)
• Eliminate the back pain, stiffness, and tingles in your legs once and for all so you can move freely again and feel great doing so
• Get you setup with a custom set of exercises and movements that you can do safely at home between appointments to keep making progress while we aren't together
• Provide you with a "graduation packet" of movements and exercises when you've completed your time with us so you can continue to be strong and prevent injury in the future
• Get you back to sleeping again without painful interruptions and tossing and turning trying to find a comfortable way to sleep again
• Begin saving you time by reducing the amount of breaks you need to take throughout the day just so you can sit at your desk without issue (and start being more productive!)
• Get you feeling more confident about being more active and not dealing with a back that “gives out” all the time (so you can get back to yoga, crossfit, or pilates again)
• Reduce dependence on painkillers and prescriptions so you can stop spending money on them (and forget them at home!)
• Free up your schedule by staying out of the doctor’s office for good so you can spend your time being active instead of worrying about when the next appointment will be