Lower Back Pain in Women Bath
Most of the people we treat for back pain at Physology are women over 40. Many have been told it is their age, their hormones, or something they will have to live with. At our clinic in Bath, we find what is pulling on your lower back and release it.
Women are more likely than men to live with chronic pain at every age. The World Mental Health Surveys, covering 42,249 adults across 17 countries and published by Tsang and colleagues in 2008, found the gap grows with age. Between 51 and 65, more than half of the women surveyed were living with chronic pain.
Lower back pain is one of the most common reasons. It often starts after a pregnancy, a fall, or a long stretch of lifting and caring for others. It settles, then returns every few months. Each time it is treated as a new episode, and each time it comes back.
At Physology, based at WellBath on Woolley Lane in Bath, most of the people we treat for chronic back pain are women in their 40s, 50s and 60s who have already tried physio, osteopathy, chiropractic or painkillers, and want something that works on what is actually causing it.
Fascia is the web of connective tissue that wraps and connects every muscle in your body, including the thick sheet across your lower back. Carla Stecco's team at the University of Padua, one of the leading Fascia research groups in the world, found that Fascia carries receptors for oestrogen and relaxin, and that women have fewer of them after the menopause.
Their laboratory work went further. At post menopausal oestrogen levels, Fascia cells produce more of the stiffer type of collagen. So as oestrogen falls, the Fascia across your lower back becomes denser and tighter.
That is the science behind what we see in clinic every week: women whose lower back has become stiffer, tighter and slower to recover through their late 40s and 50s. Dense Fascia does not show up on a scan, so it gets missed. It is exactly what we find and release.
Supporting research
Common chronic pain conditions in developed and developing countries: gender and age differences, Tsang et al., The Journal of Pain, 2008 Hormone receptor expression in human fascial tissue, Fede et al., European Journal of Histochemistry, 2016 Sensitivity of the fasciae to sex hormone levels, Fede et al., PLoS ONE, 2019 Reduced thoracolumbar Fascia shear strain in human chronic low back pain, Langevin et al., BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 2011A dull ache across the lower back that is worse after sitting. Pain on one side that runs into the hip or buttock. Stiffness first thing in the morning that takes an hour to ease. A back that goes when lifting a grandchild, a suitcase or the shopping. Pain that started with a pregnancy years ago and never fully settled.
Each of these comes from dense, tight Fascia, usually around the hips, pelvis or Diaphragm, pulling on your lower back. Your first session finds exactly where it starts, and treatment begins the same day.
How we find where long term back pain starts and why it keeps coming back.
What we do differently if physio has helped for a while and the pain has returned.
Hip pain that travels with back pain, often from the same tight tissue around the pelvis.
The connective tissue behind most long term back pain, explained in plain English.
If what you have read describes your experience, a conversation costs nothing.
Get in touch and tell us your storyYour first session at Physology, at WellBath on Woolley Lane in Bath, is two hours long. This is how it runs.
We hear everything: when your back pain started, pregnancies, falls, what you have tried and what helped for a while.
Using the Anatomy Trains framework, we look at how your whole body moves, with particular attention to your hips, pelvis and Diaphragm.
We treat in the first session, so you can feel the difference for yourself before deciding on anything else.
You leave knowing what is pulling on your lower back and what the next sessions will focus on.
No. Hormone changes make your Fascia denser and tighter, but plenty of women in their 50s and 60s have no back pain at all. If yours keeps returning, it is the dense Fascia pulling on your lower back that needs releasing, and that is what we do.
No. We regularly treat women whose back pain began with a pregnancy many years ago. The Fascia through the abdomen, pelvis and Diaphragm changes a great deal in pregnancy, and where it has stayed tight it keeps pulling on your lower back. We release it now.
Yes. Pain on one side of the lower back that runs into the hip or buttock is one of the things we treat most in women. It comes from dense Fascia around the pelvis and hip.
Of course. James is the only practitioner at Physology. You are welcome to bring a friend or family member to any session, and you stay in control of your treatment throughout.
Get in touch, tell us your symptoms and history, and we will tell you whether we can help and what treatment is likely to involve. Every case is different and we prefer to give you a clear, specific answer rather than a generic price list.
The first session is two hours. We begin with your full history, listening to everything about your pain, your previous treatment, and how it affects your life. We then carry out a whole body Fascial assessment using the Anatomy Trains framework, explaining everything we find as we go. Treatment begins in the first session.
Message us on WhatsApp with a brief description of your symptoms and how long you have been dealing with them. James replies to every message personally, usually the same day, and will tell you whether we can help before you commit to anything. Send a message here.
If you do not feel a measurable reduction in pain in your first session, the consultation is free. No awkward conversations, no conditions. We are confident enough in what we do to put that in writing.
Physology Bath & Bristol
Send us a short message about your back pain and what you have already tried. James replies personally and will tell you honestly whether we can help.
Book a Consultation If no measurable improvement, you don't pay*We currently have 2 spaces available — next opening after that is
"James has given me my life back. I am now pain free. I can run up the stairs now instead of crawling up them."
Louise Bower, back pain that spread
Back to work full time and dancing again
P.S. If you have been told your back pain is your age, plenty of women your age have no back pain at all. Something specific is pulling on yours, and we will find it. Getting in touch costs nothing.
P.P.S. Our pages on chronic back pain and what Fascia is explain our approach in more detail.