This is a bit of a tricky question.  It can refer to the amount of relief you have after a therapy directed at relieving back pain, OR long term relief.

You may have been told that back pain relief takes time, perhaps weeks or even months.  While this may be true for decreasing back pain as the “big picture”, it certainly does not refer to how fast immediate relief can be achieved.

For example, one of my outcomes in working with back pain sufferers who have not received relief from previous therapies is either:

1. Reduce the INTENSITY of the pain:  Say, for example, on a 1 to 10 scale, with 10 being the worst, your pain is an 8 when you walk in my office.  Our outcome would be to bring it down to anything lower, such as a 7,6 or better.  That would represent a reduction in pain intensity.
2. Reduce the FREQUENCY of the pain:  This refers to how often you experience back pain.  If you have back pain everyday, then a decrease in frequency might mean that you had 2 “good days” of minimal back pain during the following week after the therapy session.

Each session of therapy, which may include any number of approaches, from corrective exercise, corrective stretching, neuromuscular therapy, and even relaxation training, should progress in its effectiveness as each session passes.

I see it as sort of a “mathematical formula”.  Meaning, when a certain sequence of movements and interventions are used, it equates to a certain level of pain relief, thus decreasing the intensity or frequency of your back pain.

Each session should focus on improving upon that formula, and results should ideally improve as the formula gets more and more directed toward your unique situation.

If, after 3-5 sessions of any therapy, you are not seeing improvement in either intensity or frequency of your lower back pain, something is wrong.  You may not be performing the therapy correctly, OR that therapy is not effective enough to continue using.

-Sam Visnic