lower back pain

[Taylor Marie]

I'm such a bonehead, I had posted this in the wrong forum.


In a nutshell, I asked a question about alleviating pain/soreness that my client (cousin, I'm working probono) is experiencing in his lower back. He says that the pain is mainly in the center where the lumbar spine is located.

What kind of techniques can I use to help him without working the endangered area?

 

[Punk Princess]

lower back pain

I'm such a bonehead, I had posted this in the wrong forum.


In a nutshell, I asked a question about alleviating pain/soreness that my client (cousin, I'm working probono) is experiencing in his lower back. He says that the pain is mainly in the center where the lumbar spine is located.

What kind of techniques can I use to help him without working the endangered area?

It isn't about techniques it is about figuring out what is wrong and what you can do about it. For some reason massage therapists always want techniques and someone to tell them how to "do" and not how to "think".

Ask him questions about the pain. When it started. What he was doing. What makes it worse. What makes it better. When does it hurt the most through out the day.

Do assessments - gait, movement screen, muscle strength (especially hip musculature), active ROM (especially in the hips and ankles with people who have back pain), check the SI (standing posture, lying prone, lying supine, check for asymetries at the ankles, knees, ASIS, iliac crest, look for movement or lack of movement in a forward flexion test and a stork stand test, use the sitting-lying test), etc....Do other orthopedic tests. Is this something that needs to be referred out for?

So many things to check. Figure out what the problem is and then you can determine what you can do about it. Techniques don't change; for the most part it is the same stuff - it is more about knowing WHAT to work, WHAT to strength, and WHAT to leave along (that is the big one).

Patrick

 

[hex]

Thank you very much. I'm fairly new to this stuff and this is a great big help. I need to work on my assessment skills before I get out there.

 

[BilligCialis]

Thank you very much. I'm fairly new to this stuff and this is a great big help. I need to work on my assessment skills before I get out there.

There is usually assessment "stuff" in most massage textbooks. To get good at it, assess all of your clients. Getting experience is the key to progressing.

Patrick

 

[Pompal 09.]

One of the better books out there to check out would be Whitney Lowe's Functional Assessment in Massage Therapy handbook. I had that one in massage school and am actually buying the new edition when my next paycheck comes in.
And of course don't forget that abdominal muscles and the deep lateral rotators are pretty big culprits of lower back pain.

 

[Henry Spencer]

Hot Stones...

Hot Stones can be used as well...

The heat warms and relaxes the muscles, which allows the therapist to apply deeper pressure, if desired. The warmth of the hot stones improves circulation and calms the nervous system.

 

[Dazaa]

Have you checked for tenderness/pain over ASIS? Obliques, quadratus lumborum, ischial tuberosity, sacral dimples, tensor fasciae latae are all places I start asking questions about when someone tells me their low back hurts and says it centers over the spine.

Think about muscular attachments, tendons, ligaments, etc. AND, don't forget to inquire about any potential for disk herniations, etc.

fwiw