Excel PT: Managing Lower Back Pain In The Winter

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Their hat and scarf were thrown aside after about 10 minutes of shoveling, once they star ted sweating. They got down the sidewalk with ease, breathing heavy but feeling good. It wasn’t until they tackled the ridge of packed snow, plowed around the cars into a dense mound, that they realized they were in for it. By the

By Samuel Kelly, PT, DPT

second to last ambitious shovel lift, they feel that familiar twinge in their lower back and by the next morning they can hardly get out of bed! Have you seen this situation before? Winters can be treacherous. Snow shoveling sends approximately 11,500 people to the hospital each year¹. On top of that, slips on ice forced around 42,480 Americans to miss work in a 2014 study by the bureau of labor statistics². Lower back pain is one of the leading causes of doctor’s office visits and results in work lost, pain medication and billions of dollars in US health care costs annually³. A curved snow shovel and some rock salt will only take patients so far. The good news is there are options. Whether your patients have a new injury, chronic pain, or are just having trouble moving around the way they used to, Excel Physical Therapy is here to help.

At Excel, every patient’s first visit will be a one on one, hour-long assessment with a doctor of physical therapy. Our physical

1 Watson DS, Shields BJ, Smith GA. Snow shovel-related injuries and medical emergencies treated in US EDs PMID: 20825768. 2 42,480 work injuries involved ice, sleet, or snow in 2014 : The Economics Daily: U.S. Bure [Internet]. Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2016 Feb. (Comparative Effectiven HA, Wyrsta NJ, Davenport TE, Egan WE, Gellhorn AC. Timing of Physical Therapy Initiation for Nonsurgical M Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy. 201

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