Lower Back

Are You Struggling with Lower Back Pain in Grand Rapids, MI?

We Help Your Lower Back Pain So You Can Be Active Again & Feel Strong & Flexible in Your Lower Back!

If you have lower back pain and are wanting to get out of pain, Purple Mountain Physical Therapy specializes in resolving lower back pain and stiffness, disc issues and nerve pain. We are located in Grand Rapids, Michigan and we treat women, men and kids who suffer from lower back pain, SIJ dysfunction, tailbone pain, herniated discs, DDD, arthritis, sciatica and other painful lower back conditions.

Have you tried things to fix your lower back pain, but just can get it to go away?
Are you feeling frustrated by your lower back pain, stiffness, weakness or sciatica?
Do you feel like no one has really, truly looked at your back, how you move, checked your posture, strength and flexibility and helped you to get out of lower back pain?
Do you want an effective approach to resolving your lower back pain that is safe, natural and teaches you what to do so you can stay out of pain?

Purple Mountain Physical Therapy is a specialty PT clinic in Grand Rapids, Michigan devoted to treating lower back pain, pelvic health conditions, neck pain, headaches and TMJ disorders. Call (616) 516-4334 to learn more.

When you receive treatment from our physical therapists, you are working with a PT who specializes in helping you get results and has advanced training specific to treating complex lower back pain, of all causes. Your appointments are private, comprehensive and you have the undivided attention of your physical therapist for 55 minutes. For more information, you can contact us here and ask us a question.

To improve your lower back pain, you need a comprehensive approach to address your stiffness, joint mechanics, core strength, fascia, muscle spasms, movement patterns, pinched nerves, posture, flexibility and more.

At Purple Mountain PT in Grand Rapids, MI, our licensed physical therapists evaluate you to determine your needs. You can expect to receive:

A combination of hands-on manual therapies, such as myofascial release and joint mobilization.
Corrective therapeutic exercises to address posture, flexibility and strength.
Instruction regarding what exercises or movements to include or avoid in your workout routine.
Extensive education and clear communication letting you know what we are finding and what needs to be done to improve your lower back pain.
Core stabilization training, to recover the deep muscles in your lower back and your abdominals and pelvic floor so these muscles all function again.
One thing we do differently here is provide you with 55-minute appointments, one-on-one with your physical therapist. You will never work with an aide and our PTs are never treating two patients at the same time. We believe your treatment time should be devoted to you so that we can focus on your treatment.

This is what personalized care, working with a specialist physical therapist looks like. If you want more information, such as our cost and availability, call us at (616) 516-4334 to inquire.

Our PTs will develop a plan of care for your lower back pain that includes hands-on therapy, movement, lower back and core muscle stabilization and more.

Because your lower back pain may be caused by a number of issues, like your herniated disc, spondylosis, degenerative disc disease, muscle spasm or arthritis, we customize your treatments to your needs. In general, we find that most people need treatment to improve their lower back stiffness, painful nerves, weakness, pain, posture, misalignments, problems associated with herniated or degenerative discs and muscle spasms. If you are intrigued and have some questions about cost and availability of our physical therapists, call us at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here and we will be in touch.

Many, but not all, of our patients who have lower back pain also experience pelvic floor dysfunction, such as urinary incontinence, painful intimacy, tailbone pain or overactive bladder.

Research has found that people who have lower back pain often also have pelvic floor muscle dysfunction. Many of our patients have never had the pelvic floor muscles assessed or treated and this may be an important of getting your lower back pain to finally go away. This is because your pelvic floor muscles are part of your core, so if you have ongoing pelvic floor problems, the rest of your core muscles, including your lower back, may be dysfunctional, also. If you would like your physical therapist to assess your pelvic floor, we can also include treatment to restore these important muscles, which may help improve lower back muscle weakness and spasm. To reach out to us to learn more or to ask about cost and availability, call (616) 516-4334 or contact us here.

If You Have Lower Back Pain, do any of these things sound familiar?

You feel frustrated that other treatments have not worked
You worry that you may need surgery, injections or will be dependent on pain medications
You can’t imagine doing something you enjoy (such as getting pregnant, water skiing, hiking around a lake, carrying your kids for a piggy back ride) because the back pain or sciatica could be awful.
You wonder if your lower back pain, stiffness or weakness will ever go away.
Staying active, picking up your kids, keeping your work schedule or joining social activities may all be hampered, at one time or another, by your lower back pain. In the back of your mind, you wonder if this is only going to get worse over the years.
Your mood isn’t as happy or easy-going as it used to be, because your lower back hurts, your sleep is disrupted and you find yourself lacking patience with it all.
Truly, what you want, is a long-term solution that is comprehensive, gets your back strong and mobile again and gives you the confidence and knowledge of what you should be doing to be keeping your lower back in good shape.

If any of the above are ringing your bell of truth, you are in the right place! Our physical therapists have helped people just like you, who share the same worries, fears and movement limitations. We are able to help you get back to a full, pain-free and active life. Call us at (616) 516-4334 to learn more about our physical therapy to help lower back pain.

Many people in west Michigan suffer continuously with ongoing lower back pain, weakness and stiffness because they are told or they mistakenly believe:

Just rest your lower back, it will go away.

Research has proven this is not true and is not a helpful way to recover from lower back pain.

Lower back pain is normal with age.

The truth is that you should be able to age and be active and healthy, without chronic lower back pain.

There’s nothing that can be done for your back pain, except taking medications.

This could not be further from the truth. Pills do not cure or treat lower back pain, they just mask pain, temporarily. Clinical guidelines have found, repeatedly, that working with a physical therapist to comprehensively treat your lower back pain is safe, effective and does not cause side effects.

Steroid injections are your best option.

Steroid injections are invasive and carry a risk of potential adverse problems, including acute neurological symptoms. Further, steroid injections do not restore your lower back joint mechanics, movement patterns or core strength. Our physical therapy is safe and natural and uses the power of your body to harness healing, reduction in pain and improvement in strength, flexibility and ability to move.

Because you’ve been dealing with lower back pain, you know that the truth of lower back pain is:

Time and doing nothing (resting it) won’t solve the problem.
Pain medications are expensive, have side effects and don’t cure your pain.
Injections also may or may not provide temporary relief, are invasive and do not treat or restore the underlying problem.
Getting adjustments is not comprehensively restoring your movement patterns, muscle imbalances, myofascial flexibility, core strength or other underlying issues contributing to your lower back pain.

Here at Purple Mountain Physical Therapy, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, we help people who want lasting relief from lower back pain so they can get back to being active and pain-free. In addition to receive our comprehensive treatments, we teach you the tools to keep their back pain from coming back. If this is what you are looking for, call us at (616) 516-4334 to speak with one of our knowledgeable staff members or, reach out to us here and we will be in touch with you!

You are not alone! Millions of Americans are impacted by back pain each year. If you want true relief, come work with our physical therapists who specialize in treating lower back pain, neck pain and pelvic health conditions.

Studies show that, at one point or another, approximately 80% of the U.S. population will experience lower back pain.

We understand that you have a lot of treatment options that you may be considering. Unfortunately, many of these only address symptoms and, at best, provide temporary relief of pain. Our physical therapists at Purple Mountain PT share a goal with you of identifying the underlying contributions to your lower back or sciatica pain and providing you thorough treatments to relieve your pain and getting you a stronger and healthier back with long-term relief. If you have questions about our therapy, call us at (616) 516-4334 to speak with one of our knowledgeable staff members or, reach out to us here and we will be in touch with you!

There are many reasons why a person may experience lower back pain or sciatica; some of these may be:

Muscle spasms, injury, tightness or weakness
Lumbar Disc problems, such as herniation or degeneration
Arthritis and lumbar spinal stenosis
Facet joint syndrome or facet joint arthritis
SI joint problems or other issues in the pelvis.

Physical therapists are movement, spine, nerve pain, joint and muscle specialists. Our physical therapists at Purple Mountain PT will work with you to evaluate what is contributing to your pain and to develop a proper treatment plan so you can experience pain relief.

Because the PTs here at Purple Mountain PT specialize in treating lower back pain and provide you whole-body treatments, we will treat the many contributions to your lower back pain. The goal of effectively resolving your lower back pain or sciatica includes…

Identify the true cause(s), which we find tend to include muscle imbalances, spasms, weakness, stiffness, fascia restrictions, joint stiffness, movement patterns that are straining the lower back, restrictions in your ribcage and thoracic spine, tightness in your hips, pinched nerves and associated myofascial and joint restrictions.
Create a unique plan for your specific condition
Relieve your pain
Restore your optimal lower back motion, flexibility and mobility
Strengthen the supporting muscles and improve flexibility and movement patterns
Return to your normal activities

Here at Purple Mountain Physical Therapy our specialty is treating back pain, pelvic health, neck and TMJ disorders. Our experienced therapists have the knowledge and skills to help you reach your goal of getting back to feeling good again and having a strong lower back.

On your first visit at Purple Mountain PT, we begin with your evaluation...

We work in a private treatment room where we can understand how your pain began, what makes it worse and your goals.
Your PT will conduct a full evaluation to determine how we can help you.
We provide you a lot of education and explain to you what we are finding, what things are causing your pain and how we will treat these things.
Your goals, ability levels and expectations are crucial to us developing a meaningful treatment plan for you.
We begin treatment at the first appointment and also provide you with recommendations for what to be doing at home to improve your lower back pain or sciatica.
At each visit we build on the improvements from the prior visit. We will advance your treatment program according to your body’s needs. Because you are working privately with your physical therapist for 55-minute appointments, together you and your PT will develop a strong relationship and understanding for how to best get you long-term relief of lower back pain so you can be active and feel good again.

Common lower back conditions that we can help:

Back Pain, acute, non-specific or chronic
Lumbar sprains/strains and muscle spasm
Herniated or Bulging Disc (HNP)
Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD)
Spinal Stenosis
Piriformis syndrome
Sciatica and leg pain
Facet pain
Spondylosis
Spondylolisthesis
SI joint pain and tailbone pain
Neck and lower back pain
Lower back pain caused by certain activities (such as golfing, mopping or sitting in the car for lengthy rides)
Arthritis
Osteoporosis and osteopenia
Compression fractures
Post-surgical rehabilitation, including following lumbar fusion, discectomy, laminectomy or other surgery

Helping people like you overcome lower back pain is a specialty of our PTs and you can be assured that you will receive customized and comprehensive treatments to help you.

Working with our PTs who specialize in treating lower back pain at our clinic in Grand Rapids, Michigan, you will be receiving 55-minute, private appointments, one-on-one with your doctor of physical therapy the entire appointment. The time, attention, specialization in lower back pain and comprehensive treatments we offer truly set this apart. We have private treatment rooms and a private gym space for therapeutic exercise, movement retraining, postural correction and core strengthening. We love this work and consider it an honor to help you. If you are interested in learning more about what makes our physical therapy treatment methods to help your lower back pain different from other options, call us at (616) 516-4334 or contact us here and we will be in touch with you.