Lower Back Pain (How We Can Help).

Massage Therapy and Movement Coaching for the effective, long-term treatment of Chronic Lower Back Pain. The Muscle Mechanics, Dunedin & Wānaka, Aotearoa.

Chronic lower back pain, is a debilitating problem that affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. 

It’s impact on daily activities, work productivity, sporting performance, ageing, and overall quality of life and well-being, cannot be overstated.

Redefining the Strategy for Chronic Low Back Pain

At The Muscle Mechanics, our expert therapists combine massage therapy, stretch and exercise coaching, dry needling, and red light cupping to relax tight muscles and strengthen weak muscles. This hands-on “remoulding of biomechanics” addresses many forms of Chronic Lower Back Pain at the cause.

At our Dunedin and Wanaka clinics, we offer comprehensive and personalised treatments for individuals seeking lasting relief from and resolution of chronic low back pain. 

Want to dive deeper to understand what kind of back pain we work with, and how we treat for optimal results? Keep reading...

In a review of our clients' histories, most participants who come to us to resolve lower back pain have almost always had a long and frustrating journey of pain medication, disturbed sleep, adjusted careers, lost hobbies; as well as X-rays / MRI’s which didn’t indicate a problem that would have undoubtedly qualified them for surgical treatment.

This long journey is especially disheartening when the experts aren’t much help.. leaving millions of people suffering from lower back pain under the impression that “this is a problem i’m just going to have to live with”. This is the reason we are writing this… There is hope!

Very often these people's back pain is ultimately caused by poor biomechanics leading to a reduction in overall functionality.

What does poor biomechanics mean?

When we say poor biomechanics, we mean that (for a host of different reasons) some muscles have become hypertonic and shorter than they were designed to be, some longer, and some weaker. These changes affect the way we move, and as is often the case in the lower back, can cause chronic overloading/ fatigue and repeating micro-injures and strain.

This maladaptive change in biomechanics is the underlying cause of so many chronic injuries and pain, including chronic lower back pain. They can sometimes occur quickly, but often occur slowly over a change in workload/ lifestyle, or over a lifetime.

What can we do to “remould” our biomechanics?

At TMM, our first step is assessment:

We get a thorough understanding of the problem and the client's history, followed by a comprehensive review of their condition. 

We then test range of motion, posture, and strength, before using massage to palpate which muscles are hypertonic (tight). *Tight muscles feel denser, and palpation is the only reliable tool to check for muscle hypertonicity.

We define a muscle as being hypertonic (tight) when it is more contracted at rest than surrounding muscles, this is measurable with an EMG, and is palpable with touch. 

We define a short muscle as one that has been hypertonic for so long that it has undergone more structural changes in its connective/ framework tissue (called fascia). 

This second type of tension feels even denser, isn’t as visible with EMG, and takes longer to resolve; but with consistent stretching, massage and change of movement patterns we can resolve this. 

For tight/ short muscles:

1. We employ a combination massage therapy and (depending on client preferances) dry needling. Our therapists are trained to locate, and manually stretch tight muscles, pinpointing areas of increased density which signals tightness or shortness in the muscles.

2. We provide a tailor-made coaching program of extremely precise stretches, designed to target particular muscles or muscle groups. These stretches can be performed at home, and become part of the skillset which clients use at home for sustained improvements.

3. The third highly efficient method we often employ is Red Light Cupping. It functions as a potent tool for stretching tight superficial fascia, enhancing fluid flow, and reducing inflammation. 

For weak muscles:

We define weak muscles as muscles that lack strength relative to surrounding muscles, and especially to muscle(s) with opposing functions (i.e. the strength of the flexors versus extensors of the hip).

1. For weak muscles our treatment protocol includes lighter massage to augment fluid flow (including blood, lymph, and interstitial fluid), boost proprioception, and enhance the brain's capacity to locate that muscle and voluntarily contract it.

2. To assuage the causes of weak muscles, we also use acupuncture needles (dry needling) on weak muscles (provided that the client is comfortable with needles). An analysis of its effects reveals this method usually proves more effective at enhancing interoception and capacity for voluntary contraction than massage, establishing it as a vital tool in our practice.

3. The final element of our strategy is strength coaching. The exercises we recommend are almost always body weight-based as the weaker muscles are typically so frail that there's no need for additional weights (at least not initially). Our therapists curate these exercises meticulously to target specific functions of particular muscles (for example the ability for your gluteus maximus to drive “end range hip extension,” or the ability for all of your abdominal muscles to “gain and maintain neutral rib cage positioning” as well as limit intra-abdominal pressure… while lifting one or both legs).

For most readers, this may seem like a foreign language, but for our clients, we make it easy by coaching in-person, one-on-one, and by making an individually tailored video for each exercise. 

Summary

Our offerings at The Muscle Mechanics set us apart from most other health care options. Our therapists draw upon studies and clinical evidence to provide effective therapy for Lower Back Pain.

We draw support from the disciplines of sports rehabilitation, kinesiology, powerlifting, strength and conditioning, dry needling, myofascial release and massage therapy to provide the services that we offer to our clients. For the issues of chronic pain, muscle imbalances, and tight muscles (as well as general stress or maintenance of a healthy body), our amalgamated skillset proves very effective. 

I hope that this blog post has given you an insight into what we are offering at The Muscle Mechanics. If you or someone you know sounds like they would benefit from our work, then please get in touch. We have clinics in Wānaka and Dunedin, and a team of seven top-level therapists ready to support your journey to improved health.

Keep an eye out for our next blog post, a case study of clients that have experienced drastic improvements in their chronic lower back pain, through working with us. We will share a detailed analysis of each, exploring the unique characteristics of their journeys as well as their perspective of our treatments.