Lower Back Pain Massage is a very common reason for people who come in for Massage Therapy.
There are many different causes of lower back pain. Some reasons include:
Disc problems – most commonly is the protrusion (bulge/herniation) of the disc pressing against the nerves. In the low back this can lead to compression against the sciatic nerve resulting in numbness and tingling down the leg.
Sciatic pain can be caused by tight muscles along the leg, butt or low back. True sciatica pain runs from the lower back, into the butt, down the back of the thigh, down the calf, into the foot up to the big toe. It’s most commonly found on one side of the body but some people do have it on both sides of the body. If you’re only feeling pain down to your knee, it’s most likely one of your glute muscles called the piriformis that is tight and compressing against your sciatic nerve which runs underneath it or in rare cases through the muscle.
Trigger Points (Knots) in your glutes (butt muscles) can have local pain or they can radiate pain up into your low back, into the center of your low back or down your leg. Common areas of trigger points are at the top sides of your hips or the middle of your glutes.
Tight hamstrings could also be pulling on your pelvis which then pulls on your low back causing lower back pain.
There are several lower back muscles that could be tight and causing pain on the left side, right side or both. Usually ranging from the mid back to the hips.
Lower Back Pain Massage Therapy
When a client comes in to see me for lower back pain, we will first discuss the areas of pain or discomfort, how it happened, how long it has been bothering them and other related questions. Then we’ll do some different tests or movements, this helps as a starting point and to see how much improvement there is at the end of the treatment.
Most clients come in with pain in different areas and different areas can require more treatment. So everybody’s treatment is personalized to them.
Although when it comes to lower back pain massage, I like to focus on a broad area with all clients and then become more specific as I find their areas of concern. I have had a lot of positive results from my clients, some found complete relief in 1 session, some required a few sessions and some still come for maintenance to help prevent their back pain from bothering them.
During my treatments, I’ll include work on your Hamstrings, Glutes (Butt/Hip) and Mid to Lower Back. Depending on your preference, I might use Cupping or Rock Blades (Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization) tools to help loosen muscles and break up restrictions. Followed by my other massage techniques using my hands, knuckles and forearms. Using Trigger Point Therapy and soft tissue releases to help release your Knots and tight muscles.
With all my treatments, I always work within your pain tolerance. You should never be going above a “7” on a scale of 1-10. You should never feel like it’s too much pressure – this can cause negative effects. I want to work with your body not against it!
At the end of the treatment, we will assess how you’re feeling. Then I will suggest some exercises to help you long term. I may also use some K-Taping on your low back to help extend your treatment.
Here are some exercises I recommended for clients with low back pain, after a treatment I would recommend certain exercises based on what I found to be the source of the client’s pain. These include: Glutes, Low Back, Child Pose, Hamstrings.
If you are currently dealing with pain in your lower back, butt / hip area or hamstrings. If you are feeling any sciatic nerve pain (numbness / tingling) down your leg. A lower back pain massage may be what need.
