Low back pain
It settles.
Then it is back.
It flares, it settles, and a few months later you are on the floor again over a sock. Rest fixes the flare. It does not fix the reason.
Why it keeps coming back
The flare is
not the problem
Most low back pain is managed with rest, a foam roller and hope. That is why it keeps coming back: all three treat the flare, and none of them touches what produced it.
The assessment looks at range, what the hips and glutes are actually contributing, which positions load the back and which unload it, and what your week genuinely demands of it. Testing, not guessing.
Sound familiar
What people describe
- The first twenty minutes out of bed are the worst part of the day
- Half an hour in a chair and you are shifting, standing, stretching
- It grabs you doing something trivial — a sock, a seatbelt, the dishwasher
- A scan said “degeneration” or “bulging disc” and nobody explained what that means for you
- A stretch that helps for an hour, and then you are back where you started
What happens
Hands-on, and
nothing by surprise
Some of the hands-on work on a long-standing back is firm, and Dale says so before he does it. Nothing happens without you knowing what and why.
Treatment starts in the same appointment where it is clinically indicated, and you leave with the two or three things to change between now and next time.
What else we treat
The others we
see most
Neck & shoulders
The one that starts at 3pm and is still there at bedtime.
Headaches
Starting at the base of the skull, not behind the eyes.
Tennis & golfer’s elbow
Six months of “it’ll settle”. It has not settled.
Desk & posture pain
Eight hours a day in one shape has consequences.
Sports injuries
The niggle you are still training on.
Practical
Before you call
Health funds
Claim it
on the spot
- Medibank
- Bupa
- HCF
- nib
- HBF
- Australian Unity
- ahm
HICAPS is on the desk, and it is connected to every private health insurer in Australia — not just the ones listed. Tap your card after the appointment, the rebate comes off on the spot, and you pay the gap rather than the lot.
What comes back depends on your level of extras cover, and myotherapy is not on every policy. The terminal tells you the exact number before you leave the room, so there is no invoice to chase and nothing to find out later.
FAQ
Questions people actually ask
My scan showed disc degeneration. Does that change anything?
It changes what we expect, not whether we can help. Degeneration shows up on scans of plenty of people with no pain at all. What matters is what your back does under load, which is what gets tested.
What if the pain goes down my leg?
Tell Dale at the start, and expect to be pointed next door. Pain, pins and needles or weakness down the leg are nerve signs — that is sciatica territory, and the spine and nervous system are a chiropractor's field. Mornington Peninsula Chiropractic is in this building, so it is a walk across the corridor rather than another search.
Should I keep training on it?
Usually yes, with changes — complete rest tends to make a stiff back stiffer. Which movements to keep and which to park for a fortnight is part of what you leave with.
Book for your low back
Forty minutes in Mornington. Assessment, hands-on treatment, and a plan you understand.