Back Pain Physiotherapy at Home in Narayan Peth, Pune

In an old Narayan Peth home, the back is often loaded at the places a modern flat does not have: the low bed on the floor, the kitchen platform that is too low or too high, the staircase with no landing, the water that has to be brought up by hand. Back pain here seldom has a single cause, which is why a home visit shows more than a questionnaire does.

Our back pain physiotherapy guide explains the causes and the usual treatment in general. This page deals with the everyday loads of an old-city household and with what a session in your own home involves.

Everyday loads on the back in an old-city home

• Getting down to a floor bed and up again. Each time, the body bends at the waist, twists to one side and pushes off a stiff knee. Done several times a day for years, it can irritate a back that is already tired.
• Carrying water and shopping upstairs. In wadas and walk-up buildings, cans, bags of vegetables and gas cylinders travel up steep steps by hand, usually on one side of the body.
• Working at floor level. Sitting on the floor to cut vegetables, grind or sort papers pulls the lower back into a rounded position for long spells.
• Long hours at a table or counter. Printers, shopkeepers and people who work with books in the neighbouring lanes sit or stand in one position for much of the day, then bend suddenly to a low shelf.
• Scooter rides through lane traffic. Laxmi Road and the lanes behind it keep a rider braced and twisting for a view of the traffic.

None of this means changing your life. It tells the physiotherapist which movements to watch and which small habits to alter.

What happens in a home session

The first visit starts with questions: when the pain began, whether it travels into the buttock or leg, what makes it worse and whether anything on the warning-sign list applies to you. Then the physiotherapist examines how the back moves and tests strength, reflexes and sensation in the legs. This separates ordinary mechanical back pain from pain caused by an irritated nerve, which is handled differently. If your pain runs down the leg, our pages on sciatica treatment in Narayan Peth and slip disc physiotherapy in Narayan Peth go into more detail.

Because the session happens at home, we can test the real thing. You may be asked to lie down on your own bed and get up again, to sit on the stool you use in the kitchen, or to lift a bucket as you normally would. We note what you do easily and where you hold your breath or grimace.

Treatment usually combines hands-on work to ease stiffness and spasm, a few exercises chosen for your particular problem, and changes to the movements that keep triggering it. When the pain is too sharp to exercise, a pain-relieving technique may be used briefly so that you can move.

Looking after your back between visits

• Keep moving within comfort. A few slow walks across the room or along the passage usually help more than a day on the bed.
• Roll onto your side and push up with your arms when you get off a floor mattress, instead of folding forward from the waist. Your physiotherapist will show you the version that suits your knees.
• Split water and shopping into two lighter loads, and swap hands halfway up the stairs.
• Raise the work surface. A folded blanket on a stool or a cushion under you can change the angle at which you sit on the floor.
• Do the exercises as often as you were told. Doing extra on a good day often leads to a bad one.

When back pain needs a doctor first

Some back pain should be seen by a doctor before any physiotherapy. Sudden loss of bladder or bowel control, numbness in the groin, a leg that is rapidly getting weaker, pain after a fall, or pain with fever and weight loss belong in a hospital emergency department.

Once a serious cause has been ruled out, you can book a visit. You can also read about home physiotherapy in Narayan Peth and the lanes we cover.