Back pain
Back pain is one of the most common civilisational diseases of our time. Its importance is great, as it is already one of the leading causes of morbidity in some developed countries. The constant sensation of back pain and muscle tension hinders everyday activities and movement.
What is the most common cause of back pain?
With your back in an upright position, your body weight is placed on your spine.
The muscles that hold your spine in place - as the name suggests - keep your spine straight and upright.
If you work all day in a sitting or standing position, and if you are overweight, you are putting extra strain on your spine. If you also neglect regular exercise, the muscles that support your spine weaken and can't carry the load.
The vertebrae are stacked on top of each other and the discs between the vertebrae are under increasing pressure. The intervertebral discs may flatten and even bulge.
If the bulge reaches the nerve bundles that exit between the vertebrae, severe pain may occur. In response to the pain, the muscles supporting the spine reflexively tighten, which further increases the pain.
Three phases of back pain treatment
1. Step 1: Pain relief
Pain relief with TENS or MENS (microcurrent) stimulation. Without pain relief, any treatment, massage or physiotherapy is very unpleasant and may even increase the pain.
Ultrasound can be used to increase the pain relief effect.Treatment of the area around the pressurised nerve roots reduces oedema and thus pain.
Step 2: Relieve muscle stiffness
Relieve muscle stiffness in the area of pain. The muscles respond to pain by reflexively contracting, which can exacerbate the symptoms.
Step 3: Strengthen the muscles that support the spine
Once the pain and stiffness have been reduced, the muscle strengthening needed to achieve lasting symptom relief should begin. This can be done initially with muscle stimulation and then gradually move on to spinal strengthening physiotherapy or yoga. Without strengthening the muscles that support the spine, the symptoms can recur again and again.
In this section we have collected a range of devices and equipment that can be used to treat back pain.