Hawkes Physiotherapy Blog

Lower back pain is a major problem in today’s modern society. For example it is considered that up to 80% of the population will experience a back problem during their working lives and even more challenging, in 80% of back pain it is not possible to identify the exact structure causing the pain! Lower back pain has a cost to the economy too. On average, each person suffering with lower back pain took an estimated 18.7 days off work, which has been shown to cost employers is £315-£335 million! Now we already know that lower back pain needs to be treated with exercise based therapy and the evidence highlights that this is the most effective approach. However we always need a plan B just in case Plan A doesn’t really work or is difficult to achieve for whatever reason. Here is some evidence regarding the benefit of exercise for low back pain: A review of systematic reviews found benefit of specific stabilisation exercise for non specific chronic low back pain