Physical therapy for the spine

Your PT will start by asking you questions about your spine problem. Your answers will help your PT find out what's causing your problem. 

Be ready to answer questions, such as:

• When did your pain start?
• Where are you having pain?
• How do your symptoms affect your daily life and movements?

Your PT will: 

• Look at your results and decide on the best way to help you
• Write a plan of care that lists your treatments and goals
• Help you find ways to move every day with the least amount of pain

Your PT will also let you know how long you will need to be in therapy to get the most out of your treatment.

Ergonomic tests look at where and how you do your work or hobbies. By understanding your ergonomics and how you move when you do your work and hobbies, your PT can help you find better ways to move. Sometimes a simple change can help a lot.

Your PT will carefully move your spine in different positions to see if your joints are moving smoothly. They'll also look for muscle and soft tissue flexibility and joint movement. 

Your PT may check your reflexes, sensation (feeling) and strength. The results will help us figure out what part of your spine has a problem and how we can best help you. 

If your spine is not balanced, it can put pressure on your sore joints (where two bones meet), nerves and muscles. Improving your posture can help a lot with reducing pain. 

This test lets us know how much you can move in different directions. Your range of motion is written down to help us tell how much you're healing. 

Electrical stimulation gently stimulates nerves as the current passes through pads put on the skin. Some people say it feels like a massage on their skin. 

Electrical stimulation sends impulses to your brain that are felt instead of pain. This eases pain and helps the muscles to relax. This helps you move and exercise with less pain. 

Physical therapists use functional training when you need help doing certain activities or physical movements with more ease and safety. Examples of functional training include: 

Posture
Healthy posture helps keep your spine in safe alignment. This reduces strain on the joints and soft tissues around your spine. Good posture helps stop future problems. 

Body mechanics
Body mechanics put good posture into your movements. It's important to keep safe posture as you move. You want to keep your body in the safest alignment as you go about daily life, especially when lifting heavy items.

Ergonomics
Ergonomics looks at the way you do activities and move in daily life. It's possible that even small changes can make a big difference with pain and spine problems. 

Learn more 

Heat makes blood vessels dilate or get larger. This increases blood flow and helps flush away chemicals that cause pain. Heat can also help bring in healing nutrients and oxygen. 

Ice makes blood vessels constrict or get smaller. This reduces blood flow and can help lessen inflammation (swelling), muscle spasm (tightening) and pain. 

Your PT may use different amounts of pressure and movement on your joints. This will help ease stiffness and help you move with less pain. 

As your pain lessens, harder pressure and different movements may be used to lengthen tissues around the joint and help you move better. 

Once your pain lessens, your range of motion has gotten better and your strength returns, you can carry on with your physical therapy at home. Your PT will go over some ways you can take care of any soreness at home. 

We will also give you guidelines to work on your range of motion and strength. Before you complete your physical therapy, we may need to do some tests and checks to see how much you've healed. 

Your PT will find the positions for your spine that are most comfortable while sleeping or resting. Your PT may also suggest positions to reduce stress on your spine while you're at work. 

Resting painful joints and muscles helps calm soreness and gives your spine time to heal. Pain with activity or physical movement could mean a muscle or joint is irritated. Your doctor or PT may have you wear a brace to limit your movement.

Learn more

PTs are trained in many different forms of soft tissue massage. Massage has been shown to reduce pain and spasms by helping muscles relax and return to normal length. Massage also helps bring in a fresh blood supply that has oxygen and nutrients.

It also helps flush the area of chemicals that can come from inflammation. All of this helps the muscles move better. 

Specific rest means only doing safe movement of the joints and muscles on either side of an area in pain. This helps protect the sore area. 

If your doctor or PT says you need to wear a brace, you may be told to take it off a few times each day so you can do some gentle, careful exercises or physical movement. 

Sore joints and muscles often feel better when traction (pull) is used. PTs create traction with their hands or a traction machine. There is also traction equipment that you can use at home. 

The amount of pull you need will depend on your spine problem. A gentle on and off pressure may be better early on to help lessen pain. 

More intense traction can help take away pain if a spinal joint is mildly sore or tight. 

Ultrasound uses high frequency sound waves to reach sore muscles and other tissues that are more than two inches below the surface of your skin. As the sound waves pass through your body, they vibrate molecules, creating friction (movement) and warmth. 

This warmth helps flush the sore area and brings in new blood that has a lot of nutrients and oxygen.