Exercise physiology for back pain in Melbourne

Persistent back pain can have several contributing factors. Avoiding activity for a long time can reduce strength and confidence, making everyday tasks harder. Once your symptoms have been assessed, a gradual return to suitable movement can help you rebuild what you can do.

Graded loading is the opposite approach. Find the amount the back currently tolerates, work just inside it, and move the ceiling up in steps small enough that you are not paying for them the next day.

Forty-five minutes, $156.55. Chloe Trace takes the history, including what makes it worse and what you have already tried, then tests how your back and hips actually load: bending, lifting, sitting, standing back up. You leave with the first block of the program, practised in the room.

Follow-ups are 30 minutes, $135.00, and the program moves as your tolerance does.

If returning to training or competition is your main goal, explore our sports exercise physiology service.

A GP or physiotherapist can assess new or changing back pain and advise whether further investigation is needed. An exercise physiologist can help you build a progressive exercise program for persistent back pain. Both professions use exercise, and the right starting point depends on your symptoms, health history and goals.

Plenty of people do both, and AlignHC runs both from the same two clinics, so it is a conversation in the building rather than a second search. We wrote the longer comparison here: exercise physiologist vs physiotherapist.

When to seek medical help. Seek urgent medical care for back pain with loss of bladder or bowel control, numbness around your genitals or anus, or new significant leg weakness. Back pain after a serious accident also needs urgent assessment. Contact your doctor for fever, unexplained weight loss or other new symptoms before starting an exercise program.