The vast majority of people will experience back pain at least once in their lifetime. Whether the pain began gradually over time or from a sudden traumatic incident, what is important to understand is the cycle of events that ALWAYS follow an incident of increased back pain.

When injury occurs, the typical response is to protect your spine by decreasing your activity level in an effort to allow symptoms to subside. What you may not know is that during this "protective phase," the body goes through adaptive changes - muscles around the injured site "guard" to protect unstable segments of the spine, leading to an overall decrease in available range of motion through your joints (primarily low back and hips). Also, because your activity level decreases and your muscles aren't being used regularly, they become weaker.

The resulting loss of strength and flexibility cause you to move in compensated ways, and you almost subconsciously lose your normal way of doing things. Disuse substitution, or your compensated strategies for movement, often place other joints and body parts in vulnerable positions and they become painful, as well.

So now one problem leads to another, and your overall health snowballs downhill. Although your body's protective mechanisms are activated, increased pain is often the result, which re-starts this cascade of events and you quickly become stuck in a pain cycle.

Chronic pain - whether from headaches, back pain or conditions such as fibromyalgia - can interfere with work, day-to-day activities and relationships. All too often, pain relief treatments are ineffective and can lead to a downward spiral of frustration, decreased functioning, stress isolation - and worsening pain.

Pain rehabilitation centers and programs vary widely in scope and focus. Offerings may include a series of classes that last a few days to a few weeks. Some programs are residential; others are day programs. A common denominator across programs is a team approach, where the team works to develop an individualized plan to address the many far-reaching effects that chronic pain has on the patient and family members.

At Disk and Spine Northwest we utilized a team approach. Dr. Zach Parks is the head doctor of physical therapy at Disk and Spine Northwest, a comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation center specializing in the treatment of serious, chronic back pain, acute injuries and postural/scoliosis problems. Contact him at diskandspinenorthwest.com or (208) 215-3261.