with Andreas Klein

Many older people suffer from chronic back pain . It may be pain due to :

1 . a bulging disc or a slipped disc pressing on a nerve , 2 . back muscle spasms , 3 . facet joint degeneration , or 4 . general back inflammation . Most people obviously want quick results and many quit remedial treatments if results aren ’ t instant . Of course , the quicker pain goes the better and treatments is an expense that many pensioners may not be able to afford .

Yet in most cases , older people are the segment of our population for which longer term remedial therapy is most needed . Firstly , older folk are generally the ones that have long-standing / more chronic problems . Secondly as people get older , they generally take longer to respond to treatment than younger people . This is a key thing to remember , because sometimes therapy is just like the old shampoo commercial says , “ it won ’ t happen over-night but it will happen ”.

Older people with back pain may need to stick a little longer with regular treatment to get results , the following case

example illustrates this point perfectly . Over the last 18 months we were able to provide in-home treatments for a 78 year old patient with back pain . He had severe back pain , such that it was extremely painful for him to : 1 . rise from sitting , 2 . sit down on the treatment table 3 . lie down on the treatment table 4 . sit up and get off the table after treatment , and 5 . sit back down in a chair 6 . the patient also found it painful to lie in any one position in bed 7 . and turning over in bed was even more painful The patient would cry out when having to do any of these things . From a treatment viewpoint , it was also more difficult to provide treatment , due to the pain involved . This meant treatment had to be less robust , a little slower and more careful .

This patient was lucky enough to have an Australia government paid aged care plan . His daughter had organised this through an aged care services provider sand the plan paid for his weekly treatment . This took the financial burden away and allowed the patient to undergo

longer term treatment without worrying about finances .

After the first few treatments it seemed that we were making little progress and for the most part the pain seemed to improve little . However , after roughly two months of treatment rising from sitting became a little easier .

A few weeks later sitting down onto the treatment table also became less painful . Gradually going form sitting to lying on treatment table also began to improve . The patient ’ s range of motion during stretching exercises gradually got better as well . Progress was slow but always in the right direction .

After 16 months of regular treatment , the patient was able to rise from sitting , walk to and then sit on the treatment table , recline and lie down on the table by himself , rise again from the table , get dressed and walk to and sit down in his chair , all with almost no pain . In fact , each of these things that at the outset of treatment , had been extremely painful to do , now seemed simple and easy .

Our treatment plan aimed to : 1 . slowly reduce inflammation of back tissues

2 . untighten and lengthen back muscles and connective tissues to a more optimal state and reduce reliance on pain killers

With a young person the same process may take from four weeks to three months depending on the severity of their issue . However , what the above example demonstrates is that with patience and perseverance , and the help of an aged care plan to allow extended treatment , in many instances , even a 78-year-old patient can have excellent results over time .