A problem often seen in practice is that patients after a successful treatment period develop the same symptoms as they had before. To prevent this we advise people about their (working) posture, we give specific exercises and we put patients on a maintenance program in the form of maintenance treatments. Unfortunately, often is thought that when the pain is gone, the whole cause of the complaint also disappeared with that and people stop with active and passive maintenance of the spine.
The fact is that many complaints in the spine are caused by misuse. And not just in terms of heavy lifting or gardening, but as well frequently performed invasive asymmetrical movements or having a bad posture. This is one of the causations that only the patient can do something about and where we can only can give advice. However, if the initial pain goes, people tend to forget their exercises, they do not take care about their (sitting) posture, weights are lifted the wrong way, maintenance treatments are forgotten and therefore they fall back into all the old habits that were actually part of the cause of the original complaint.
People are always wondering how it’s possible, that the symptoms have returned. “They did not do anything wrong…”. This is firstly because people often return into their old habits that are affecting the spine, but also because the spine has not fully recovered from the painful period, and thus is less loadable. Furthermore, lack of exercise and movement play a large a role in the return of pains in the spine.
When the spine is properly maintained in the form of specific exercises and by paying attention to posture, a consciousness is created about how to use the body. This does prevent recurrences. An important role is reserved for the maintenance treatment. During a maintenance treatment the spine is checked for problems which could develop and if so, they will directly be adjusted. The cause of a back pain occurs long before pain is felt and can thus be treated in an early stage before symptoms arise. Furthermore, exercises will be checked and advice will be given on other issues that contribute to a healthier spine. Our maintenance treatments therefore have a preventive character.