Physiotherapists in Bolton treat many different conditions including the issues profiled below.

Environmental Risks for Low Back Pain

The risks of low back pain are well known to be connected with high risk activities such as lifting heavy objects from the floor whilst twisted or doing activities requiring quick bending and twisting. A sudden and unplanned occurrence of having to exert high levels of muscle power quickly is also risky for developing low back problems. The physical demands of work such as lifting, twisting, bending and vibration are all risk factors for developing back trouble and in worsening already existing cases of back trouble. There is not a clear connection between work and back trouble although work stresses, if prolonged, can cause episodes or back pain or prolong already existing ones.

The reasons for not being able to work and for developing disability from a back pain problem are more closely related to complex factors of a psychosocial nature which are both individual and work related. Factors relating to sport have been contradictory in the research literature but activities which demand heavy loads such as gymnastics and weight lifting are associated with a higher risk of disc degeneration which could lead to symptoms in time. Spinal tissues may be affected adversely both by too little activity and by too much.

Lumbar Stenosis

There are many painful syndromes which involve the lumbar spine, with the discs, ligaments, joints, muscles and nerves all implicated in pain production. Older people can present with symptoms which indicate a stenosis of their vertebral canal. The vertebral or spinal canal runs down the back and carries the spinal cord, allowing the nerve roots to exit to the body at each spinal level (each disc level). The spinal canal can be congenitally narrow which increases the chances of developing spinal stenosis with age. As degenerative changes occur in the spinal structures the spinal canal can become narrowed and tight.

The symptoms of spinal stenosis typically do not include back pain but rather leg pain, often bilateral, and worsened by walking but better with sitting. Typically presenting in people of 65 years or older, spinal stenosis can also present as a nerve root irritation of a sciatic type due to stenosis of the exit for the spinal nerve root. Physiotherapy is not usually very useful and little is found on examination apart from a reduction in spinal extension and many people manage their symptoms over time as best they can, although surgical spinal decompression can be very successful in relieving the symptoms.