Examination and treatment of back pain from the perspective of physiotherapy

It is held that the most frequent causes of the pain of spine are mechanical disorders and degenerative changes in the locomotive segment.

Overloading the spine, muscles, ligaments and other parts of the spine segments lead to mechanical disorders resulting in pain

and reflexive changes. The pain is located in a certain segment of the spine, yet the primary disorder of the function may be somewhere

else. Therefore, while investigating the backache it is necessary to assess functions of the entire spine and adjacent structures. We are

overwhelmed by a number of manuals that advise us on how to care about our spine and muscles, be it strengthening of individual

muscle groups or stretching them. Unfortunately, most of these manuals deal only with the certain part of the spine that induces the

pain, e. g. in case of pain of the cervical spine the exercise focuses only on this part. In this article we intended to explain the importance

of a comprehensive examination of all the spinal segments, diligent collection of the case history of the patient, establishing the diagnosis

and the following target treatment both pharmacological and therapeutical. The information is designed, in particular, for the

“first-line” doctors who refer patients further to any specialists.

Keywords: comprehensive examination, postural dysfunction, pharmacological therapy