Recent guidelines published by the NHS, have shown manual therapy including osteopathy to be an effective treatment in non-specific low back pain lasting over 6 weeks but less than a year. It is encouraging to see evidence based research highlighting the benefits of osteopathy.

Back pain may be caused by many different factors and combinations of them. In most cases there is a structural reason for the problem usually involving damage to the muscles, ligaments, capsules, or the vertebra (bones) and how they work together. This can be made worse by postural imbalances, bad layout of office equipment,  poor seating, prolonged activity, etc.

Sometimes the problem may be caused by damage to a disc and could also involve irritation to a nerve causing pain to radiate across your buttock and into your leg. Other reasons for backache include wear and tear/degeneration.

Your osteopath can help in a variety of ways for your low back pain. Such as hands on treatments, postural advice, and exercises to either maintain mobility or to strengthen the supporting muscles.