10/31/2025
Understanding Acute Low Back Pain
When dealing with acute, non-specific low back pain, it can help to think about your pain in terms of movement intolerance — this simply means identifying which movements make your pain worse.
There are two common patterns:
🔹 Flexion-Intolerant Back Pain
What it feels like: Pain increases with sitting, bending forward, or rounding your back.
Early focus: Try extension-based movements (like gentle back bends or standing breaks) to keep your spine moving in a pain-free range.
🔹 Extension-Intolerant Back Pain
What it feels like: Pain increases with standing, walking, or arching your back.
Early focus: Incorporate flexion-based movements (like gentle knee-to-chest stretches or sitting postures) to reduce discomfort.
💡 Key Tip:
Avoid or modify activities that clearly aggravate your pain—but don’t stop moving altogether! The goal is to stay as active as possible, using pain-free movement as your guide. Over time, work toward gradually restoring all movements and normal activity.
