Lower back pain is ranked as Australasia’s number one health burden, as it is estimated that 80% of Australians experience back pain at some stage throughout their life and 10% of Australians experience significant disability as a result of their pain.

Believe it or not, the biggest predictor of lower back pain is depression. Jarvik et al, found that people who reported depression at the baseline of the study were 2.3 times more likely to develop back pain than those who reported not having depression. This study also highlighted that the results of MRI reports and their progression of findings three years later, infrequently correlated to the onset of new or worsening lower back pain.

Despite the large numbers of patients that walk in with back scans prior to seeing us, only approximately 5-10% of back pain sufferers have a clinically significant pathology.

Hence, at Janet Brandt-Sarif Physiotherapy, we aim to complete thorough assessment that explores your symptoms and function, along with discussing your beliefs regarding lower back pain. Incorrect or poor beliefs about back pain can be associated with greater disability. Hence, we frequently discuss areas such as your damage beliefs (“if I bend down and experience pain I believe I am doing further damage to the structures in my back”), functional loss beliefs (thinking “picking up that pen off the floor will irritate me for the next half hour”), beliefs about back imaging (“my scan reports a pathology, this is causing my back pain”) and most importantly, discuss what you found on your internet search and help reassure you that the disease that it diagnosed you with, may not actually be the case.

If you are experiencing lower back pain please remember to not panic; relax, breathe and call us at Janet Brandt-Sarif Physiotherapy to book an appointment to start the recovery process.