Helping You Recover from Back Pain with Use of Our Real Time Ultrasound at All Care Physio – Your Physio in the City
Do You Have Lower Back Pain? You Need Real Time Ultrasound ImagingTo Make Sure Your Core Is working
Read on to find out how we helped Taylor, a patient at All Care Physiotherapy, overcome her Lower Back Pain with Real Time Ultrasound Imaging.
What is Real Time Ultrasound Imaging (RTUSI)?
Real-time ultrasound imaging is a tool used by physiotherapists that is non-invasive and completely safe. It creates a real-time image of your tissue by emitting inaudible sound waves at high frequencies that pass through tissue and bounce back. We can then interpret these images of your tissue below the skin to make treatment more effective and accurate. Some key benefits of using RTUS include:
- Diagnosing weak or damaged muscle groups
- Providing feedback in real time to optimise muscle training
- Monitors progress of muscle strengthening & activation.
So, why does Real Time Ultrasound Imaging help with Lower Back Pain?
Even though lower back pain is often thought to have many potential causative factors, a common issue linked with lower back pain is altered strength, stability and control of specific muscles in your trunk and core.
There are two muscles that often require specific & targeted strength training in patients with lower back pain. These muscles are called the transverse abdominis and multifidus. Both these muscles have an important role in supporting and stabilizing your lower back at rest or during movement. With RTUSI and the guidance of an All Care Physiotherapist, patients’ are able to use these images as feedback to learn how to properly strengthen and contract these muscles. RTUSI can ultimately accelerate recovery, as patients can see that they’re strengthening and using the right muscles during their exercises.
We have had many patients walk through the door with lower back pain that have either suddenly come on over the weekend, or persisted for over 18 months.
A recent patient of All Care’s, Taylor, came to us with lower back pain that was ongoing for 10 months. Taylor was a 35 year old woman who had been experiencing lower back pain for the past 10 months, however was recently exacerbated during Pilates two weeks ago. At first,Taylor tried to continue going to Pilates multiple times a week, but then started to notice her pain worsen to the point that she had difficulties falling asleep. Taylor tried several forms of treatment, such as taking Panadol and using heat packs, but Taylor’s goal was to return to Pilates safely and avoid experiencing similar injuries from Pilates in the future.
Taylor then came to All Care Physiotherapy, where RTUSI treatment was incorporated into her individualised treatment plan. After 3 months of physiotherapy, Taylor noticed a significant difference in her strength and symptoms. She stated that her lower back and core felt more supported and stable during classes compared to beforehand. Currently, Taylor has returned to Pilates three times a week with no back pain.
What else can Real Time Ultrasound Imaging Help With?
Real time ultrasound imaging can also be used to get a real time image of your pelvic floor muscles. Pelvic floor muscles play an important role in stabilising the lower back region, pelvic region and providing support for the internal organs. Pelvic floor muscle function is often adversely affected particularly during pregnancy and childbirth leading to issues with incontinence.