LOW BACK PAIN BASICS To give you an idea of how to think of low back pain (LBP)..when someone comes into clinic we go through a basic process:
Red Flags – is it actually LBP (not kidney stones, etc.)
Is it Disc/Nerve related – are there signs of muscle shrink, weakness, tingling
What direction of movement are they intolerant? (Flexion, extension, rotation)?.
After 5 years of practice I found the EXACT source of pain doesn’t always matter. As long as it’s nothing major like fracture, severe neurological deficit, etc..
What’s more important is their functional deficit. Ex: they can’t lift (flexion based), it hurts to swing a baseball bat (rotation), it hurts after tying their shoe (extension)..
From here we can now plan our attack of rehab 
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If you’ve had low back pain, and we know 90% of you have….what direction sets it off?
