Hi there and thank you for visiting Spinal Physiotherapy, Preston.

My name is Paul Boxcer, I am a Chartered and HCPC Registered Physiotherapist of over 21 years and I specialise in the treatment of spinal pain and in particular Low Back Pain & Sciatica. I am author of the book “Low Back Pain & Sciatica - A Personalised Treatment Approach” and was also invited to be a guest speaker on my approach to treating pain at the 2012 & 2014 Back Pain Show at London Olympia.

I am incredibly passionate about helping people in general, but in particular, those suffering with spinal pain. Over the years, I have treated many people who had been suffering unnecessarily for far too long, when all they needed was the appropriate advice, treatment and exercise programme to become pain free.

I believe that spinal pain is often a very over medicalised and over treated condition. Your body does not want to be in pain, it gives you pain because you are doing things it does not like. As long as you take this into account, look to analyse what it is you are doing that both aggravates and eases your pain, then a cure for your pain can be achieved.

Just because you may have a stiff joint or tight and weak muscles, it does not mean that you need regular appointments and treatments from the likes of myself to cure your pain, you do not. What you actually need is the know-how of what to do and when to do it in order your pain to be resolved – that is where I can help out. As you can see from Spinal Physiotherapy’s Mission Statement below, my aim is to simply share the knowledge I have so that you gain the confidence and understanding to take control and resolve your pain yourself.

“To provide knowledge, understanding and confidence to help people take control and resolve the pain they are suffering” - Spinal Physiotherapy Mission Statement

Do not believe that nothing can be done for the pain you are suffering with, or that it will be expensive with on-going treatments to rid yourself of it. While you may need to be seen for some ‘hands-on’ treatment, my ultimate aim is to provide you with the knowledge and know how to treat, manage and resolve your pain yourself, leading to a life free of pain.

I love myth busting and there is no sweeter myth to bust than this one: “Once you have had back pain, you will always suffer with back pain”. There really is no need to suffer with back or spinal pain, but you need to take the responsibility and control yourself if you are to truly get to the cause of the problem and see it disappear, this is exactly where I can help…

Please enjoy looking through my website, and in particular the blogs where I will be collating plenty of information, tips and advice.

Finally, if you would like any further information about Spinal Physiotherapy or would like to make an appointment, please do not hesitate to contact me:

Preston Clinic: 01772 471481
Mobile: 07789 077008

Email: paulboxcer@spinal-physiotherapy.com

“Never stop believing you can cure yourself of the pain you are currently suffering with, you can and I can help you achieve that”

The approach and philosophy taken at Spinal Physiotherapy is quite simply twofold:

1. Truly get to the cause of the problem and find out why it is you are suffering with pain at the moment.

   This doesn’t just mean loosening up a stiff joint or strengthening a weak muscle, but finding out why it is that joint is stiff, or muscle is weak in the first place. It is very unlikely that your body will just decide to stiffen up or become weak for no apparent reason. Typically it is a result of that good old cliché “If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it”. Your body is a dynamic machine and loves movement. However, if for whatever reason you have become a little less active, or maybe you have developed small postural habits that have resulted in you over-using certain parts of your body at the expense of underusing others, then tightness and weakness can result. It is this that needs to be addressed if we are really going to get to the cause of the problem, not just treating the signs and symptoms.

2. Explain and show you why you have developed pain, enabling you to take control.

   It is all well and good having treatment that helps ease your pain, but unless you are shown and learn how to recognise these problems yourself, there is always the risk of pain returning. When you visit Spinal Physiotherapy, it is our aim to educate you on what your problem is, why it arose in the first place and how you can manage and stop it from returning again. Although we pride ourselves on having a great personal relationship with our clients, we do not want to keep on seeing you back week after week, month after month for corrections and maintenance programmes. By showing you how to help treat and resolve your pain yourself, you will have all the tools you need to stay pain free.

If you would like to find out more about how Spinal Physiotherapy can help you, or make an appointment, please feel free to contact me:

Preston Clinic: 01772 471481
Mobile: 07789 077008

Email: paulboxcer@spinal-physiotherapy.com

The aim of any treatment should always be to get to the true cause of the problem i.e. resolve your pain and prevent it from returning. This is undoubtedly the model and ethos taken by Spinal Physiotherapy. If you have suffered with back pain before, and it has become a recurring problem or you feel the need to have it regularly ‘adjusted’ then this is quite simply because the cause of the problem has not been addressed.

MYTH:

“Once you have had back pain, you will always have back pain”

The quote above, which I am sure you have all heard or even repeated yourself before, is not true.

Your body does not want to be in pain, it is giving you pain because you are doing something to it that it does not like (usually incorrect postures and movement patterns, along with tight and / or weak muscles) and it is these influences that will be placing inappropriate amounts of stress across your spine, and your body is now letting you know by giving you pain.

The really important thing to do is to address these underlying stresses that are causing pain. If you have a stiff joint for example, it is all well and good ‘loosening’ that joint up with a click and crack, but why did the joint stiffen up in the first place? If this cause of the problem is not addressed then it is likely to stiffen up again at a later date – resulting in you feeling more pain.

If the cause is not addressed, when the pain returns the first thing the sufferer typically (and incorrectly) thinks is:

“I need to return to (insert any health professional here) again in order for them to loosen things up again”

Whereas really you should be thinking:

“Why does my pain keep on returning and what can I do about it”

It’s a bit of a cliché, but… “If you keep on doing what you have always done, you will keep on getting what you have always got”. Therefore if you keep on going to the same health professional for the same treatments, you should not be surprised that you keep on getting the same results. The reason I am highlighting this is because it is a story I often hear.

It is also important not to be misled by X-ray and MRI Scan results either! Once again I often hear that the reason a client believes they are in pain is because:

“I have arthritis/wear and tear of my spine – it says so on the x-ray”

or

“It is because I have a bulging/slipped disc, I had an MRI Scan and the consultant has shown this to me”

Believe it or not, there are plenty of people walking around as you read this, who are pain free yet an MRI Scan would show they have a slipped or bulging disc. There is a significant amount of research around to support this, and one in particular (Maureen C. Jensen et. al. 1994) concluded that:

“On MRI examination of the lumbar spine, many people without back pain have disk bulges or protrusions… Given the high prevalence of these findings and of back pain, the discovery by MRI of bulges or protrusions in people with low back pain may frequently be coincidental.”

Equally, I would challenge anyone to X-ray the spine of an 80 year old and show me that there are no signs of arthritis/wear and tear – yet do all 80 years suffer with back pain? Of course they do not.

My point being, is that just because you have had investigations such as an MRI or X-Ray and the results have identified a potential cause of your pain, just remember that that is all it is i.e. a ‘potential cause’ and not the definite one. Your back is such a wonderful and complex structure, that it serves it an injustice to diagnose the problem with a simple 2D image which was just a very brief snapshot in time. To really identify the cause of the problem, we need to ask questions about what aggravates and eases your pain, as well as identifying any particular patterns of pain there maybe. This would be followed by observing and analysing how you move. Putting all these together will then start to give us an idea as to why you are suffering pain and what the cause is.

This is exactly the approach taken at Spinal Physiotherapy. Your initial appointment involves a thorough assessment, identifying the cause of the problem, followed by a treatment programme which addresses that cause, all lasting approximately one hour. The treatment programme will include the appropriate advice and exercise programme in order for us to begin the road to resolving your pain and preventing it from returning again at a later date.

By following the treatment programme prescribed specifically for you, the chances of you encountering recurring episodes of pain are dramatically reduced if not eliminated. However, in the unlikely event the pain does return, you will immediately have the knowledge and know-how to think about why you have suffered this onset of pain, therefore allowing you to address the cause of this problem straight away. Consequently, the pain will very quickly disappear for you to carry on as normal again, without the need to make an appointment with us again (although you are always more than welcome to call us at any time for any advice you are after or questions you may have).

Therefore, if you are fed up with your pain and really want to get to the cause of the problem and resolve it once and for all, then give us a call at Spinal Physiotherapy:

Preston Clinic: 01772 471481
Mobile: 07789 077008

The first thing we can do is have a chat on the phone and work out what we can do to help.

Take care for now and I look forward to hearing from you.
Paul Boxcer

Any health professional will tell you that one of the biggest obstacles encountered when treating an injury is the longer the pain has been around, the more difficult it is to resolve (although that’s not saying it’s impossible, it just makes it a little bit harder). That is why it is important to take action as soon as possible.

The longer you suffer with pain (even if it is only a minor inconvenience as opposed to debilitating pain) the more chance there is for you to be subtly making compensations which in turn can lead to further or increased pain at a later date. When the time comes for this to be addressed, there will be more ‘layers to peel back’ in order to find the original cause.

Without doubt, the best thing to do is to address the problem and get on the road to recovery as soon as possible. You will then be pain free quicker and also eliminating the chances of further compensations taking hold.

If you are in pain at the moment, simply pick up the phone for an informal chat and see how Spinal Physiotherapy can help out.

You can contact me directly by using the Contact tab on the main menu, email me on paulboxcer@teach2treat.com or call me on either 01772 471481 or 07789 077008.

Many thanks for viewing my website.

“Your body has an innate desire to heal itself of any injury it encounters... spinal pain is no different from any other injury”

Take care and good luck,
Paul