Author: Mark Jessop

Back stiffness can result from having back pain or be a precursor to back pain occurring, either way some back mobility exercises are certainly useful. They can also aid your recovery and help you get the most out of any treatment you are receiving as well as help manage back issues and prevent flare ups.

The following are some back mobility exercises that I find very useful. They are easy to do and you don’t need any equipment. They should not be performed pain free. You can perform them as part of a warm up, or do them by themselves. Continue reading “Exercises for back mobility”

What is Chiropractic treatment? 

I’ve just come back from the British Chiropractic Association conference held at my old University. There were a series of lectures, workshops and discussions around how to provide the best care and recent research. I always enjoy going to these events and come back with new ideas on how to improve treatment I give. Continue reading “Chiropractor, its who I am not what I do.”

Mindfulness has been getting a lot of positive press recently, and for good reason. There is more evidence coming out all the time about the benefits of mindfulness. In fact recently in the United States guidelines have been updated to medical doctors advising them to use mindfulness as a treatment option ahead of medication for people with Chronic back pain. This is a big deal and has caused quite a shake up! Continue reading “8 Week Mindfulness based stress reduction course at Prime Therapy Clinic”

As a Chiropractor one of the many techniques I use and probably the technique Chiropractors are most famous for is manipulation. Manipulation involves a quick, specific movement of a joint and is often accompanied by a popping or clicking sound.  But what causes that popping sound during manipulation? The proper technical name for this sound is joint cavitation.

Continue reading “What is that popping sound during a manipulation?”

When a new patient comes to see me they do so the majority of the time due to pain. Whether that is back pain, neck pain, headaches shoulder pain etc.… Before I will treat anyone I perform a case history and examination that I use to determine the answer to 3 main questions. When I have the answer to these I can formulate a plan on how best to help someone.

So what are the 3 main questions? Continue reading “3 Main questions I try to answer before I treat anyone”

For many years for many people taking pain killers such as paracetamol or ibuprofen has been the first line of treatment to get relief from back pain. But recent evidence is emerging to show that this might not actually be as beneficial as we thought. In this blog I am going to look at some recent evidence and some changes to GP clinical guidelines on pain relief for back pain. Continue reading “Pain killers and back pain”

The new NICE guidelines were published on the 30^th November 2016 for low back pain and sciatica. These are of interest to me as a Chiropractor because back pain and sciatica are the most common reasons for people seeking Chiropractic treatment at our clinic.

What are the NICE guidelines?

NICE is the National institute for health and care excellence and were set up by the department of health. They produce clinical guidelines recommending how health care professionals should care for people with specific conditions. They look at the evidence and cost effectiveness of different treatments to make their recommendations.

As a Chiropractor who treats back pain and sciatica, on a daily basis, I was very pleased with these guidelines as many of the recommendations are things we do at our clinic.  I have read them (the first draft of the guidance came out in the Spring) and I thought I would summarise their recommendations here.  So if you see any health professional whether or not that is a Chiropractor, Osteopath, physiotherapist or your GP these are the most up to date guidelines based on the latest evidence of how we should treat back pain. It also includes things that should not be recommended for back pain.

What the guidelines for treatment of low back pain recommend we should do:

• Consider exercises programs taking into consideration the specific needs, capabilities and preferences of the patient.
• Consider manual therapy (manipulation, mobilisation and massage) as part of a multi modal package of care.
• Provide people with advice and information, tailored to their needs and capabilities, to help them self-manage their low back pain
• Consider psychological therapies as part of a multimodal package of care.
• Use ibuprofen and not paracetamol.
• Encourage work and return to normal activities

Interestingly these are things the guidelines say we should NOT do.

• Advise paracetamol on its own
• Do not offer ultrasound or TENS
• Do not offer acupuncture
• Provide orthotics

It is important to bear in mind that these are guidelines and not you must do protocols. However they do provide a good overview of what works (and what doesn’t) for the majority of people with back pain.

If you have back pain and would like treatment from the Chiropractor at our clinic you can be assured that the treatment you receive with be in line with and supported by the latest evidence of what works and recommended guidelines.

To make an appointment with the Chiropractor just give the clinic a call on 01476 501301 or book online here

A study was published today in the academic journal “Spine” that examined the effectiveness of Pilates in helping people with low back pain. As a Chiropractor that helps many people in Grantham suffering from back pain, I read this type of research so I know the best treatment and what recommendations to give to my patients.

“would Pilates be any good for me?” and “would Pilates help” is a very common question I get asked in the clinic here at Prime Chiropractic. So after reading this article I though I would share its findings and my thoughts on them.

What did they do?

It was a systematic review which means that the researchers looked at lots of different studies on Pilates for low back pain, rated how good they were and then came up with a conclusion as to weather they thought this meant Pilates was an effective form of exercise to help people with low back pain. In this study they looked at 126 trials and reviewed 10 of them.

Did they find that pilates helps low back pain??

They found that overall there was some evidence that Pilates did indeed decrease pain of people with low back pain when compared to not doing anything. However no conclusive evidence exists that pilates is any better than any other type of exercise.

What this means

Here at Prime Therapy Clinic we will as a general rule always give exercises for people with low back pain. We will also encourage patients to increase their general exercise. For patients with lower back pain what is important is that they do some exercise and this should be exercise that they enjoy. If they enjoy pilates then brilliant. This is more than likely going to help. However if they do not enjoy it and are doing it because they are forced to they are unlikely to continue and therefore it is unlikely to help. The Chiropractor at Prime Therapy Clinic will discuss what exercise you might enjoy and tailor exercises recommendations based on this as this is what is most likely to get longer term results.

If you would like to discuss exercise for low back pain and want to make an appointment with the Chiropractor then book online here.