Lower Back Pain

The most common reason people seek osteopathic care — and one of the most mismanaged.

Lower back pain rarely has a single cause. It's almost always a story — of accumulated load, old injuries, stress held in the body, movement patterns that compensate quietly for years before something finally gives. By the time most people arrive, the pain has been there longer than they'd like to admit.

A label like "disc bulge" or "muscle strain" can feel reassuring — at least you know what it is. But labels don't explain why your back is struggling, or why it keeps coming back. That's the more important question.

Why it's more complex than most people realise

The lower back sits at the intersection of the pelvis, hips, diaphragm and nervous system. It's load-bearing and rotation-dependent, and it's deeply influenced by how you breathe, how your hips move, how your gut functions — and how safe your body feels. Treating it as a purely structural problem misses most of the picture.

Research now consistently shows that lower back pain is best understood through a biopsychosocial lens — meaning the physical, the neurological and the lived experience of the person are all part of what's driving the pain. This isn't abstract theory. It changes how assessment and treatment work, and it's why the same injury presents so differently from one person to the next.

Common presentations include disc irritation, sacroiliac joint dysfunction, muscle spasm, nerve pain into the leg (sciatica), and postural strain — but these are descriptions of what's happening, not explanations of why. The why is where treatment begins.

How Dr Chase approaches it

Assessment starts with your full picture — not just where it hurts, but how your body is loading, compensating and protecting itself. That includes looking at how your pelvis and hips are moving, how your diaphragm and breathing patterns are affecting spinal load, and whether your nervous system is stuck in a protective state that's amplifying pain signals.

Treatment draws from joint mobilisation, myofascial release, visceral manipulation (because the gut and lower back share fascial and neurological connections that are often overlooked), and nervous system regulation where relevant. Every session is built around what your body actually needs — not a protocol.

The goal isn't just pain relief. It's restoring the movement, trust and resilience your back needs — so this stops being a recurring pattern in your life.