Low back pain and headache are interrelated

Mentioning that chronic headache affects approximately 4% of adults in the world and reduces the quality of life, Physiotherapist Çağıl Ertürk from Istanbul Gelisim University said: “Holistic treatment approaches should be carried out for patients with headache and low back pain instead of considering and evaluating both conditions separately. Instead of working on the patient's pain symptoms, an approach that they can holistically carry out should be applied.”

Citing that the therapeutic approach is determined according to the diagnosis of low back pain, Ertürk said: “Conversely, when serious symptoms of low back pain are ignored, an ordinary low back pain is diagnosed. Although it is related to the patients with one of these chronic problems, the condition may be different if the patients have both pains. Previous systematic review of the dual studies revealed a possible link between headache and low back pain.”

Ertürk said: “Even though 90 percent of patients who consult to general practitioners for low back pain in the UK lay off consultations within 3 months, most of them still experience low back pain and even disability 1 year after consultation. This suggests that there are few treatments or that there is pain for another reason to eliminate the causes. Diagnosis of chronic pains is complex.”