Adults aren’t the only people who can get low-back pain. A new article published in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, details the now common occurrence for children and adolescents to seek help for back pain. This cause of this pain may remain unidentified even with imaging. However, with early intervention it is possible to effectively treat back pain in children so they may get back to the activities they enjoy. 

Some of the common causes of back pain in children include:

• Muscle strain
• Poor posture
• Over-training in a sport or activity
• Too sedentary in activities

Pain that doesn’t seem to arise from a specific injury can usually be treated effectively at home with rest and an oral anti-inflammatory medication, but in instances where it is lasting, physical therapy can help alleviate a child’s back pain.

Ways Physical Therapy Can Treat Back Pain in Children

1. Core strengthening: Back pain can indicate there is a core muscle weakness and poor engagement of the core muscles. Strengthening exercises of core muscles near the abdomen, low back and hips can help alleviate back pain and set children up for less chance of reoccurrence.
2. Posture training: Patient education is an important part of treating children’s back pain. From teaching them how to sit at their desk to how to wear their back pack, proper posture training can help lower back pain and increase a child’s awareness of their body and how to prevent future pain.
3. Heat Therapy, Cold Therapy & Cold Compression Therapy: Heat, cold therapy and cold compression therapy can help decrease pain and reduce swelling resulting from back pain in children.
4. Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation can also be used to decrease pain associated with back pain by helping relax tight or spasming muscles.
5. Therapeutic Ultrasound: While contraindicated over the growth plates, therapeutic ultrasound can be used to help decrease pain, improve circulation and facilitate tissue healing in other areas, making it a good modality to utilize when treating persistent back pain in children.

Treating back pain in children can have more positive outcomes then decreasing their pain. Physical therapy gives an opportunity for children to learn firsthand how their choices effect how they feel and gives them empowering information that sets them up to want to continue making choices that keep their bodies healthy. But most importantly, effectively treating persistent back pain in children helps get them back to their most important job: being a kid.

For more information about Physical Therapy and popular modalities and devices used in treating adults and children please read more at ProHealthcareProducts.com.