Sunningdale Osteopathic Clinic

This guide is for patients who have low back or buttock pain caused by a painful or weak intervertebral disc. The disc can either be painful in its own right (because of damage to pain sensitive fibres of the back or side of the disc) or it can cause achy muscles (as the muscles of the low back work over hard to ‘protect’ the disc).

This advice does not apply to those patients who have sciatic pain or numbness or pins and needles in the upper or lower leg; instead see this other guide.

The type of patient who this guide applies to will likely be in the age range 30-55.

There are other more common causes of low back pain, particularly sore joints, muscles and even ligaments. These tend to resolve with proper care over a period of about two weeks, but because discs are slow to heal, particular care over a period of up to three months must be taken to avoid relapse and promote recovery, hence the need for the more detailed advice in this guide.