Emergency Back Pain Advice
Struggling With a Flare-Up of Back Pain?
If you’ve woken up with severe back pain, or suddenly found yourself unable to move comfortably, you’re not alone.
Back pain is common — and while most episodes settle in a few days or weeks, for some people it lingers or keeps coming back.
The good news: there are simple, safe things you can do right now to help yourself.
Important to Know
Serious or permanent damage is rare
Most flare-ups improve with time and the right early steps
What you do in the first few days can make a big difference to recovery
When to contact your GP
Remember, back pain is rarely due to any serious disease. It is usually the result of muscle or joint pain.
However, you should see your doctor if:
You have severe back pain which gets worse over several weeks instead of better
You have a fever or unexplained weight loss
The pain started after a major trauma e.g. a car accident or a fall
You have unexplained back pain AND a history of cancer, injecting drugs or prolonged use of corticosteroids
You experience numbness around your back passage or genitals
You have trouble passing or controlling urine
Abdominal pain accompanies your back pain
The pain is worse when you lie down and regularly wakes you from deep sleep
Step 1 – Stop Aggravating Your Pain
First, you need to remove the cause of the pain.
Imagine having a cut on your arm. Given time, the cut will scab over and you will naturally heal. However, how well do you think that cut will heal if you constantly pick at the scab?
Repeating postures, movements and activities that aggravate your back is like picking at the scab. Repeated aggravation prevents healing and provokes sensitised nerves, which eventually get triggered with less stimulation.
It is vital to give your body a chance to settle down after an injury.
With that in mind, your first job is to work out all the things that cause your pain, and then to eliminate or modify those activities for a while.
TRY THIS EXERCISE:
1. Write down all the postures, movements and activities that increase your pain through the day.
2. Work your way down the list of aggravating postures, movements or activities on your page and cross out any that you could realistically cut from your life for a week or two.
3. Find a way of modifying any items that are left on your list so that they stop aggravating your pain.
Step 2 – Find Positions of Comfort
If you have high levels of back pain, you will need to find positions that provide you with relief. Below are a few examples:
Lying down
Lying down is often the most comfortable place to be after back pain strikes. Lying removes compressive forces through the spine, offloading discs, facet joints and some of the soft tissues.
Try some of these positions:
Sitting Down
If you find sitting to be the most comfortable position, consider using a lumbar roll to support the curve of your lower back. A rolled-up hand towel usually works well. Relax back into the chair to give your spinal muscles the chance to relax, rest and recover.
Don’t forget……..
In general, it is best to intersperse these pain-relieving positions with short walks and gentle exercises.
A Note About Bed rest for Severe Pain
If you are in severe pain and spasm, a day or two in bed might be necessary to ease muscle spasm and allow the pain to subside enough for exercises or therapy to begin.
This is not a step to be taken lightly. Bed rest for more than 2 days can actually prolong the pain because you get stiff, muscles get weak, bones get weaker, you lose physical fitness and it gets harder to get going again.
If you do decide that you need one or two days in bed to let your pains subside, we suggest that you get up and move for 5 minutes every hour or so.
Step 3 – Use Simple Pain Relief
Heat or cold packs for 10–15 minutes
Over-the-counter medication (discuss with your GP or pharmacist)
Relaxation and breathing techniques to calm tension and reduce spasm
Step 4 – Start Gentle Movement
Your back is designed to move. Even small movements help muscles relax and joints lubricate.
Try:
Short, easy walks every couple of hours
Gentle stretching or rolling of the pelvis
Avoid pushing through sharp pain — but don’t freeze up completely
Consider trying these simple exercises:
Reminder
Please remember that the goal of these simple exercises is to get you out of acute pain. Do not expect them to fix your back.
Consider making an appointment to see a qualified therapist who can work out what tissues are causing your pain and the underlying problems that led to those tissues being under strain. They can then set to work on settling down the sensitive tissues and fixing the underlying stiffness, tightness, weakness, or faulty movement patterns that led to your flare-up in the first place.
When to See a Physio
If your back pain is:
Recurrent
Affecting your sleep, work, or confidence
Not settling with basic strategies
…it’s time for a professional assessment.
What Makes Our Assessment Different?
At Physio7, we don’t just ask what hurts — we ask why.
Our in-depth assessment is designed to uncover:
✔ Which joints, nerves or soft tissues are irritated
✔ What movements are causing strain
✔ Whether muscle weakness or poor control is involved
Once we understand the root cause, we can treat it directly — and stop chasing symptoms.
Treatment follows our 3-Step System:
Relieve
Reduce pain and muscle spasm with hands-on therapy, positions of ease, and calming strategies including electrical treatment if appropriate.
Restore
Free up stiff joints and tight muscles — and re-establish healthy spinal alignment and movement patterns.
Rebuild
Develop strength, resilience, and confidence — so you can return to bending, lifting, working, or training without fear.
Need Some Professional Help?
If you’re ready to start getting relief, hands-on treatment and a customised programme to solve the root cause of the problem and get you back to the things you love, use the button below to get started!
What to book?
If you have a new injury or a flare up of an old injury, book in for a standard 40 minute assessment.
If you have 2 or more problems, or you have a complex single issue (you have probably been treated previously by other therapists), book in for a 55 minute assessment.