Latest / Scoliosis with Dr. Chris Gubbels / 3 FAST Steps to Reduce Low Back Pain Flare-Ups

Transcript

3 FAST Steps to Reduce Low Back Pain Flare-Ups · Scoliosis with Dr. Chris Gubbels

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: If your lower back keeps flaring up, I want to give you three things you can do today that will help.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: The first can keep that flare-up from ever getting as bad.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: The second can help you get moving better faster.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: And the third can help you have fewer flare-ups in the first place.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Dr.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Chris Goobles.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: I specialize in the non-surgical treatment of scoliosis and spine deformity.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Let's start with the first thing I would do as soon as you feel your back starting to flare.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Step one, stop the flare from getting worse.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: When your low back starts to flare, the first goal is to stop irritating it over and over again.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: For the next few hours, I want to make things easier on the back.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: If lying down helps, try lying on your back with your lower legs supported on a couch or chair so your hips and knees are bent.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Some people do better on their side with a pillow between their knees.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: You are looking for the position where your back starts to relax instead of feeling like it has to brace against every little movement.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And once you find that position, stop testing the pain every five minutes.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: People will bend forward, twist, stand up, touch their toes, keep reaching toward the painful side just to see if it still hurts.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: If the area is irritated, repeatedly checking it can keep stirring it up.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Give it a little time to settle.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Heat can help if your back feels tight or locked up.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Try 15 or 20 minutes, then get up, move around gently, see how you feel.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: If cold feels better, use cold.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: And if you normally use over-the-counter anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen or an approxin and your doctor has told you it's safe for you, that can also help with pain during the flare-up, but only use it for a short time frame.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Creams or patches are fine if they give you some temporary relief.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: But all those are for one reason, to make it easier for you to move again.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I would also change how you move for the rest of that day.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Avoid loaded bending and twisting if those movements are setting your pain off.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you have to pick something up, keep it close to your body instead of reaching out in front of you.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: When you get out of bed, roll on your side first, bring your legs off the edge, and push yourself up with your arm instead of doing a sit-up-like motion.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: And keep your movements smaller for a while with smaller, shorter steps, shorter walks, and more frequent position changes.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: You are trying to keep that painful flare up from two to three days of being completely locked up.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Once the pain starts coming down and you can move without every single movement, tightening it right back up, then we go on to step two.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Step two, keep moving but lowering the dose.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: One of the easiest mistakes to make during a flare-up is to go from one extreme to the other.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Some people stop doing almost everything because they're afraid they're going to damage their lower back.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Other people keep pushing because they don't want the pain to win.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: I would not try either of those strategies.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, keep moving but lower the dose.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you normally walk 30 minutes, maybe today you only do five or ten minutes.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you work at a desk, get up more frequently instead of sitting in the same position for two or three hours straight.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: If you're planning on spending the afternoon doing yard work, this probably isn't the day to prove that you can push through it.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're looking for movement your body can tolerate without the symptoms continuing to build.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: And be careful or cautious with aggressive stretching here too.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: You see, a flare-up often makes the back feel extremely tight, which makes people assume that a tidy air just needs more and harder stretching.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes those muscles are tightening because they're trying to stabilize an irritated or unstable area.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's a protective mechanism.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: So if you keep pulling on the spot and it gets tighter again 20 minutes later, more stretching may not be the answer.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is especially true if you have scoliosis or some kind of spinal imbalance.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because in that case, one side may already be doing more work than the other.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: So stretching both sides the exact same way may not address what is actually happening.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, use gentle movement that leaves you in the same or better afterwards.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: If you take a five-minute walk and it loosens you up as you go, that's great.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: But if every step makes the pain sharper and you are more irritated when you're finished than you were when you started, you gotta back off, slow down.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: You see, the goal is to keep the body moving without repeatedly crossing that point where the back gets more and more irritated.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: And once the flare-up starts settling, this is where I want you to stop thinking only about today.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because if this keeps happening, I want you to know what your back is doing right before each flare-up starts.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if your lower back keeps flaring up and you're not sure whether scoliosis or spinal imbalances may be part of the reason, you can book a call with our team at Scholaricare Denver using the link below.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: We'll walk you through where the pain is, what tends to bring it on, what you have already tried, and whether a more specific evaluation makes sense for you.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because once the pain comes down, the next question is why you keep ending back in that painful position again.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: So step three, catch the warning signs earlier.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Once you're out of that flare-up, think back to what happened before the pain really took off.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: You see, most flare-ups don't go from zero to ten out of nowhere.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Your body usually starts giving you clues first.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe one side of the back started tightening up.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you begin shifting your weight without even realizing it.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you started leaning forward, putting a hand on a counter, shortening your stride, looking for somewhere to sit earlier.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the signs I want you to catch earlier next time.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you know that after 15 or 20 minutes of standing, you start leaning on one leg and the same side of your back is tightening up, don't wait for the pain to force you to stop.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to your body.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: That is your clue to change a position.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sit for a few minutes, take a short walk, unload the back before the flare-up begins to build.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Then, between flare-ups, work on extending how long you can go before those warning signs ever show up.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you start tightening after 15 minutes, work below that limit for a while and gradually build up from there.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: If walking is a trigger and you start changing the way you walk after just 10 minutes, do the same thing.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Stay under that point, build up your tolerance slowly, pay attention to whether those warning signs start showing up later.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now look at the pattern.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: If the same side is always tightening up first, or you always lean in that same direction before the pain spikes, I would want to know why.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: I see this a lot in adults with scoliosis or spinal imbalances.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because if the spine is shifted to one side and you're starting to lean forward, those muscles and joints and discs may not be sharing the work evenly.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: One side can end up doing more of the work while you stand or walk.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: At first, you may feel fine, and that starts to fatigue.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: You shift a little bit more, the muscles tighten, and that same side gets more and more irritated.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Before you know it, you have another flare-up.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: So the warning sign is not random.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: It may be showing up where your body starts losing its ability to hold you up comfortably before the pain spikes.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Between flare-ups, that gives you two things to work on.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: One, build on your tolerance so those warning signs show up later.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: And if the same side keeps flaring up first, figure out why.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: For one person, that may mean improving hip mobility because the lower back is making up for the stiff hips.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: For somebody else, it may mean strengthening the glutes and trunk so the lower back doesn't have to work so hard.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: And if your spine is shifted to the side or leaning forward, you may need a specialized extra plan that's designed to address the imbalances more specifically.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: That is how you start having fewer flare-ups instead of just getting better at recovering from them.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: So when would I go to see someone to get checked?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: If your flare-ups are becoming more frequent, easier to trigger, and hard to recover from, I would get evaluated by a specialist instead of just trying to continue to manage it at home.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: I would also pay attention if your standing or walking tolerance is starting to shrink.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you could walk 45 minutes last year and now your back force should stop after 10, I'd want to know why that change is happening.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: The same goes for pain that is consistently on one side, especially if you can see yourself leaning or shifting the same way over and over again.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: And if you develop new or increasing leg weakness, major numbness, changes in bowel or bladder control, numbness around the groin or saddle area, severe pain after a significant fall or injury, or symptoms that are rapidly getting worse, get medical attention now.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Don't delay this.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: So when your lower back flares up, first get the back out of the position that keeps irritating it and use heat, ice, or other pain relief that helps get you moving again.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Second, keep moving, but lower the dose until the flare settles.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then once you're feeling better, don't just forget about it.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Look at what keeps happening before each flare up.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Find the point where your back starts losing tolerance and then gradually build from there.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if the same side keeps tightening first, especially if you're leaning or shifting to the side when you stand or walk, find out why that side keeps having to do more of the work.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: If scholars or spinal imbalance is maybe part of that, you can contact our team at Skol A Care Denver using the link below.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want a simple daily routine you can do between flare ups, watch my 10 minute low back pain video next.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'll show you what I would focus on each day to improve mobility, strength, and your ability to stay on your feet longer.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you there.