Larry O'Mahony

So I suppose back pain is something that affects so many of us that people can assume that it's normal.

But actually, there is a lot we can do about it, I suppose, particularly when we think of how it's managed.

When somebody gets that initial diagnosis, it has a really profound effect on how it affects them actually for the rest of their life.

You get used to an ache or a pain though, don't you?

I suppose you do for some pains and like you'll have an acute pain, which comes on maybe as a result of tissue damage.

And then you'll have persistent pain, which is there for longer than three months.

And so ideally, we want to try and get rid of pain before it turns into persistent pain, because that's a lot more difficult to manage.

Yeah, so persistent pain actually affects about 40 to 43% of people and back pain will be one of the reasons.

And it can happen because your brain becomes sensitized to the pain.

So we maybe initially become hurt and that's our brain processing what's happened and creating pain to protect us.

And so the pain then happens as a result of the harm.

But if you've had pain for a long time, your brain can become very sensitive to it.

And it's a bit like a habit.

Your brain actually holds on to it and can become very easily activated.

So small movements can have a big response.

And that's what we don't want to happen when people initially suffer from something like back pain.

That's so interesting.

So how do you break that cycle then?

That's a really good question.

And so it's looking at our perception of pain.