A Physiotherapist’s Experience with Lower Back Pain

Jul 7

Tingling down one leg and foot

Constant back pain

Stretching that doesn’t change your pain

Exercise makes your tingling or back pain worse

Does this sound like you?

This was me in 2018. There wasn’t a specific event that occurred. I just remember coming back from travelling abroad and returning to work at a physiotherapy clinic near London. It started with random lower back pains that began to worsen over months. I would feel this tightness on the outside of my left lower leg. I would stretch and massage but it didn’t really help. I chalked it up to needing better footwear or just regular aches and pains from working out. However, neither changing my footwear nor modifying workouts did anything to ease the discomfort.

I chose to ignore it and continued to work out despite the tightness in my leg and the random back pains. A couple months later, I noticed tingling in my foot, especially if I was providing treatment for my clients. It progressively worsened and I couldn’t sit for more than 10 minutes. I ended up using a sit to stand desk while completing my electronic charting on my laptop. Things weren’t getting better.

I tried to use my own physiotherapy knowledge to try and fix it. This involved foam rolling, stretching, self-massage using a lacrosse ball; nothing seemed to work. I even asked my physiotherapist coworkers to assess my back and give me stretches or exercises, but even they were puzzled. I sought out chiropractic treatment, massage therapy and trialed anti-inflammatories but still had no success. I was feeling frustrated that no one could figure out the underlying problem and source of my pain.

As time passed, my ability to participate in things I loved got worse. Squash games were unbearable, and I could only run one block before my leg would tighten up and begin tingling. I couldn’t enjoy fishing because sitting or standing would be extremely uncomfortable. My girlfriend even noticed that I was always in a bad mood because the pain was constant. I eventually had to stop all activity because it hurt too much. I was at an all time low.

Back and leg pain are no fun

This continued over the course of 3 years. My back would constantly feel tight. Almost all movements would cause tingling down the side of my leg into my foot and now even standing was unbearable. No matter how much I stretched or strengthened, I couldn’t get rid of the back pain and tingling. People would tell me that it was all in my head. It was so depressing because the pain was invisible and nobody knew how I felt. I couldn’t do the things I loved, and it was wearing down on me mentally. I felt as though I lost my identity as an active person and I didn’t feel like myself.

Out of desperation, I started to see several different practitioners and researched other treatment techniques. I eventually came across a revolutionary technique called dry needling which kickstarted my recovery. This was much different from acupuncture and the relief was almost immediate.

My physiotherapist did a comprehensive assessment and found out where the exact source of the problem was using special tests. A thin acupuncture needle was placed into a very specific area of my back and removed immediately. Once the needle was inserted, I felt my muscle twitch and an instant release of the pain and tightness in my back I’d had for years. I could suddenly bend forward further with less pain and over the course of the week, the tingling in my leg and foot dramatically improved. Suddenly exercises and stretches that caused me pain before, no longer hurt. It felt like my muscles were actually firing properly.

I returned to some activity slowly, as I felt weak from being immobile for so long. My standing and sitting tolerance began to improve. I gradually increased my distance in running and returned to squash 8 months later. It was a slow process as my body was relearning how to move again, but the exercises that were originally painful no longer increased the tingling and tightness in my leg.

There was a brief period where I thought “what if this activity causes a flare up?” and I was extremely concerned. However, seeing a physiotherapist who properly educated me on what to avoid was really important. Being shown stretches that would also provide some relief was extremely helpful, as well as pointing out strength imbalances in my body. Another key piece of information was that numbness or tingling are usually the last symptoms to go away in a chronic low back injury and that it would take time for that to change. There are changes in the brain that cause us to interpret different sensations in an injured area after being in pain for more than 3 months. Sometimes focusing on how much you can do is a better indicator than just the pain itself. Of course, there was education around what signs to look out for if things were getting worse. But having more understanding of my injury gave me the confidence to continue to exercise despite having discomfort.

Over the course of a year and a half, I became stronger and still required a prescription of specific exercises and treatments of dry needling to return to long distance running. Any time my back would stiffen up, I would get treatment and carry on with the strengthening program provided. I’m happy to say that I was able to run a half marathon distance (21.5km) 2 weeks prior to writing this blog. I do occasionally feel tightness in my leg, but I find that it is fleeting. I’m not 100% pain free, but I’m functioning extremely well since the beginning of my injury.

I now understand how my clients feel when they express their concerns and anxieties over their lower back pain. I’ve been through it myself and know it all too well. After my experience with dry needling, I completed certification through the University of British Columbia’s Gunn Intramuscular Stimulation (Gunn IMS) program. I now have a special interest in helping those with chronic lower back pain.

If you’re feeling lost, desperate and have tried a lot of treatments without success, I may be able to help you. If you’ve seen several different health care practitioners and are lost, perhaps I can point you in the right direction. My aim will be to understand your injury and to find the source of the problem. My ultimate goal is to help you feel like yourself again. As I said earlier in this blog, I felt as though I lost my identity. My hope is that I can help as many people regain their sense of self again and return to the things they love doing.

If this sounds like you and you’d like to work with me to see if we can find a solution for you, give the clinic a call or email us and ask to book with Corey. You can also read more about the causes/risk factors for lower back pain and leg tingling/numbness in this blog authored by Corey.