Clients With Lower Back Pain

Clients With Lower Back Pain

Many times you may begin training a client who states he/she has a history of lower back pain.  An XRay or MRI may not have been performed due to your client's hesitation to see a doctor or having poor insurance.  As a professional, you can hypothesize what the possible diagnosis is by asking a few questions:

1) What is the age of your client?  From the teens to the fifties, disc issues are most common, such as bulging or herniated discs.  After the fifties, arthritis and spinal stenosis is most common.  The symptoms of these diagnoses will present differently

2) Can your client remember a specific incident that brought on the pain?  When was it? This will tell you if it is due to a trauma and if it is chronic or acute

3) What positions or activities increase or relieve the pain?  Many times, someone with a bulging disc or herniated disc feels better standing and walking, while stenosis feels better with sitting and bending.  Use this information to help devise appropriate activities

4) What is a typical day like? Does your client have a desk job or a job that requires repetitive bending, lifting and twisting?    Many times people who repetitively bend, lift and twist will fatigue.  Motor control errors result and injury can occur, specifically disc issues

5) Describe the pain.  Does it radiate down the inside or outside of the leg and knee? Does it pass the knee and reach the foot?  Radiating pain may mean a disc is irritating a nerve root or that a bone spur is placing pressure on the nerve.

The above questions will help guide your treatment/training sessions so that it is customized for your client's specific needs.  For more training information regarding clients with herniated/bulging discs or spinal stenosis, go to: www.lowbackpainvideos.com.  The DVDs here provide step by step exercise protocols for these common back conditions.