Approaching acute pain

Approaching acute pain

In most instances with an acute injury you may have to slow down or reduce your activity for a day or two, however we know that returning to your normal activities as soon as you are comfortable and the tissue healing process permits leads to better outcomes.

If your pain is severe or worsening however, you should seek medical assistance. For example an acute episode of back pain can be very painful and debilitating, you can sometimes worry that movement is injuring you further, and or making your pain worse. We know that in most instances of non traumatic low back pain staying active is really important and returning to your normal activities as soon as you’re comfortable will help you to feel better sooner and reduce the recurrence of low back pain.

Acute non-traumatic back pain is rarely due to serious tissue damage or injury and it is common to experience an episode of acute back pain when we are run down, stressed, experiencing poor sleep and or have been overactive or inactive. 

Many people worry that they require imaging during an episode of back pain, however this is not the case. In most instances of non traumatic back pain, imaging is not required and can in fact be detrimental, as it may lead to unnecessary interventions. 

If you are concerned, your health profession will be able to determine whether imaging is warranted as they are trained to identify red flags and make the appropriate referral. 

Written by Kate Johnson, Osteopath