A Physio’s Journey with Back Pain – Part 1

One thing about being a physiotherapist is that every injury—no matter how frustrating it is at the time—eventually becomes a lesson you can share with your patients. And I’ve had many of those lessons.

A few years ago, I was on holiday in Peru, staying in Cusco, the gateway to Machu Picchu. The Peruvian people are generally quite short, and the doorways certainly reflect their height. To enter our bedroom, I had to duck every time.

On the first morning, we were getting ready for a tour. As I stepped out of the bedroom and ducked under the doorway… aggggh! A sharp pain shot into my buttock and lower back. I tried to stretch it out, but everything I did made it worse.

It was bad enough that I had to stay in the hotel room all day while my family went on the tour. Not the ideal start to a holiday. I took some Nurofen, rested, and over the next few days it gradually improved. I did a lot of walking, felt stiff on cramped buses, but overall it slowly settled.

Lessons Learned

Back pain can be unpredictable. Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches, keep moving, and avoid dwelling too much on the “whys” and “what ifs.” It was such a basic movement—ducking under a doorway. Who would have thought that could trigger a problem? But lumbar flexion (bending forward) can increase stress on a disc, and perhaps it was the combination of long flights, luggage, and fatigue. Who knows?

What mattered more were the positive principles that came out of it:

1. Low-force mechanisms = quicker recovery. If the movement that caused the injury is simple—like ducking under a doorway—you can usually expect a faster recovery, even if the pain is intense.

2. First-time episodes tend to settle faster. Back pain that’s new, without previous flare-ups, often improves more quickly.

3. Short-term anti-inflammatories can help. If you can take them, they can reduce pain and make it easier to move.

4. Rest briefly, but keep moving. Short periods of rest are fine, but walking and gentle activity help things settle sooner.

5. If stretching makes it worse, don’t force it. Back pain often needs calm movement, not aggressive stretching.