“Will My Back Injury Lead to Back Pain Later?" Part 1 of 3

Jonathon Strefling, PT DPT • Jan 13, 2022

Study: More than 50% of those who had an acute back injury reported recurring and chronic back pain 5 years later.

For most people, physical therapy or simply getting active again can get people past a new back injury. And many times, we happily move on, not giving it another thought. But as this study shows, more than half of the people surveyed reported recurring and chronic back pain 5 years later. This is why it is important to learn these three things: 1. Learn the cause of your pain. 2. Learn how to prevent it. 3. Learn how to manage your back pain if it returns. We will break this up into 3 posts. Here in part 1, we will look at learning the cause of your pain.


Back pain will often times return. But there are ways you can prevent & manage it.

#1: Learn about the cause of your pain.

There are numerous causes of back pain, and therefore, numerous treatment approaches. If you think you have a disc problem in your back but in reality, it's your sciatic nerve being pinched, then you are not going to be addressing the right activities and exercises. In order to discover the cause, you may need professional help. But what you can do is take detailed notes of your pain behaviors, such as location, feeling (sharp, burning, dull, achy, zinging, etc), activities that help & hurt, just to name a few. This will make it much easier for your therapist or doctor to diagnose the root cause.


Let's look at the most common symptoms of the majority of non-traumatic acute back pain [1]:

  • Sudden onset back pain (that may or may not go down one leg).
  • Pain worse when bending forward for prolonged periods (sitting, gardening, vacuuming, & making the bed).
  • Difficulty standing from sitting position & pain with standing upright fully.
  • Better when moving & worse when remaining in one position for prolonged periods.


If these symptoms describe you, there is a very good chance that you can obtain relief with specific positioning and simple exercises within a short time. In uncomplicated cases, we can likely equip you with all you need within just a few visits to pinpoint the cause, teach you how to relieve the pain and how to prevent it & treat it if it ever returns. Our goal is always to make our patients independent in stewarding their own bodies.


Next up, part 2: Learn how to prevent acute back pain.


SSMPT covers all of Kalamazoo County and parts of Van Buren and St Joseph counties.

By City: Galesburg - Kalamazoo - Marcellus - Mattawan - Paw Paw - Plainwell - Portage - Richland - Schoolcraft - Scotts - Three Rivers - Vicksburg


[1] McKenzie, Robin. "Treat Your Own Back" 9th U.S. Edition. p. 28.


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