Category: Spine Pain | Author: Stefano Sinicropi | Date: February 9, 2026
As a provider, we want patients who are really going to commit to a treatment and recovery plan for their back issue, but there is such a thing as being too committed to the cause. If you’re not careful, you can actually overdo it when it comes to managing your spinal condition. In today’s blog, we explain how it’s possible to have too much of a good thing when it comes to back pain treatment.
Overtreating Back Pain
Your doctor will likely provide a roadmap for your recovery, and it’s important that you understand each aspect of your treatment so that you don’t end up overdoing it. Let’s look at some of the ways you can overtreat a back condition:
- Too Much Rest – Rest is incredibly helpful in the short-term following a back injury, but rest alone isn’t going to help your spine get back to a pre-injury level of strength and fitness. Rest can make it easier for injuries to heal, but it doesn’t help to strengthen muscles, ligaments or other tissues that have been weakened as a result of trauma. Without proactive interventions, your spine will remain weaker than it was prior to your injury, leaving you exposed to a recurrence.
- Too Much Exercise – On the flip side, you can also have too much exercise and strength training such that it overloads your spine. It’s wonderful that you want to put healthy stress on your body and help it get stronger, but too much stress, especially at a time when your body has been weakened by injury, is a recipe for an overstress injury. Stay within your activity restrictions and slowly ramp up your activity level as you recover from an injury.
- Too Much Sleep – Sleep is a restorative process that gives our body time to focus on healing processes when we’re at rest, but you can overdo it when it comes to sleep. Too much sleep and inactivity won’t provide the right environment for healing to take place. You want about eight hours of sleep, then you need to challenge your body with appropriate activity and a healthy diet to boost circulation and give the body the nutrients it needs to aid in tissue recovery. Laying in bed all day won’t help you make the strongest recovery after a back injury.
- Too Much Medication – Medications and painkillers are another passive treatment that can cause serious health issues if you become overreliant or dependent on them. Painkillers don’t address the underlying problem, so they aren’t a great long-term option, and they can also lead to dependence, overdose and withdrawal symptoms, so you’ll want to carefully follow your doctor’s prescription plan and talk with them about any concerns you have before or while you’re taking medications during your recovery.
- Too Much Online Advice – Finally, many people head online to look for advice about managing back pain without needing to head in to see a doctor. There’s plenty of wonderful advice out there, but there’s also some less-than-helpful information that you should steer clear of, and it can be difficult to differentiate between the two if you don’t exactly know what you’re looking at. Moreover, a lot of back pain advice that you read online is pretty general in nature, which can be helpful at times, but it won’t be the best recommendation for your unique issue. For best results, drown out all the outside noise and connect with a spine specialist who can visualize your condition in person and provide individualized recommendations for your unique needs.
Just remember that you can have too much of a good thing when it comes to caring for your back pain. To give yourself the best chance at making a full recovery after a back injury, connect with Dr. Sinicropi and the team at Midwest Spine & Brain Institute today at (651) 430-3800.
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