Back pain & sciatica: Physical therapy for back pain and sciatica
If your back or leg pain has you moving carefully, or barely moving at all, you're in the right place. We assess what's driving the pain and build a plan to help you move and do more, one-on-one with a licensed physical therapist.
Serving Lake Wales · Haines City · Winter Haven
What's actually going on: Back pain and sciatica: the short version
Most low back pain is a strain of the muscles, joints, discs, and nerves that move your spine, not a sign that something is broken. Sciatica is the name for pain that travels from the back into the buttock or leg, usually because a nerve root is irritated. Both are common, and most cases settle with time and the right kind of movement rather than rest.
Two things are worth knowing up front, because they change how people cope. First, hurt doesn't always mean harm: pain can be real and intense without there being damage that gets worse when you move. Second, the size of a finding on a scan often doesn't match the amount of pain someone feels, which is one reason imaging isn't usually the first step for back pain without warning signs.
Sciatica specifically tends to sound more alarming than it behaves. Leg pain, pins and needles, or a heavy, weak feeling down one leg can be unpleasant, but the majority of people improve over weeks with conservative care. A smaller number don't settle on their own, and that's worth knowing early rather than discovering late, which is exactly what an assessment is for.
When back or leg pain needs to be checked first
A page that tells you to keep moving has to tell you when not to wait. The warning signs below are uncommon, but if you have any of them, don't book a physical therapy visit; seek urgent medical care the same day, because they can point to a problem that needs a doctor first.
Loss of bladder or bowel control, or new numbness around the groin, buttocks, or inner thighs (the area a saddle would touch).
Sudden, significant weakness in one or both legs, or numbness that is spreading quickly.
Fever, unexplained weight loss, or a history of cancer alongside your back pain.
Back pain after a significant fall or accident, or severe pain that keeps waking you at night.
If none of these apply, physical therapy is a safe and reasonable place to start.
How we help: How physical therapy treats back pain and sciatica
The plan is built around you, not a protocol. Rather than handing you a generic sheet of stretches, your therapist assesses what's actually happening and adjusts the work to what your body tolerates that week, loading it enough to make progress but not so much that it flares. That's the part a video can't do, and it's why we keep sessions one-on-one with a licensed therapist.
For sciatica, that often means finding the positions and movements that calm the nerve down, then gradually rebuilding tolerance so the leg symptoms have less to grip onto. For general low back pain, it usually means restoring confident movement and strength so day-to-day loads like lifting, sitting, and bending stop setting things off.
Physical therapy for back pain and sciatica starts with finding what's driving it (how you move, what you can and can't tolerate, which positions ease or provoke it), then uses graded movement, hands-on treatment, and clear guidance to help reduce pain and rebuild what you're able to do. The American College of Physicians' 2017 guideline for low back pain recommends non-drug approaches, including exercise and hands-on care, as a first-line option for most people.
"Won't moving make it worse?"
It's the most common worry, and usually the opposite is true. For most back pain, gentle, graded movement helps things settle faster than rest. The key word is graded: your therapist starts where you are and builds from there, so you're never guessing how much is too much.
"Will I be told it's in my head?"
No. We start by looking for the mechanical drivers (how you move, load, and recover), not by dismissing what you feel. Your pain is real, and the goal is to explain it in terms you can act on, then do something about it together.
One-on-one care: Hands-on time with a licensed therapist
Every session for your back or leg pain is with a licensed physical therapist who stays with you, rather than handing you off to an aide or a machine. That's how the plan keeps pace with what your body is doing week to week, and it's a big part of why patients across Polk County keep coming back.
What to expect: How long does it take to feel better?
Most people notice a change within the first few visits, though longstanding or severe problems usually take longer, and progress isn't always a straight line. Recovery is measured in what you can do again, like sitting through a workday, lifting a grandchild, or sleeping through the night, more than a pain number. Individual results vary, and your therapist will set expectations for your situation at the first visit.
Your first visit is an assessment and the start of a plan: history, watching how you move, testing strength and range, and usually a few things to begin at home. Here's what your first visit involves →
Early on, the focus is calming symptoms and restoring comfortable movement, so daily activities feel less risky.
As you progress, we build strength and load tolerance so the things that used to flare your back stop doing so.
Recurrence is common with back pain, so we spend time on what keeps it from coming back, not just on this episode.
Getting started: You can start without a referral
In Florida, you don't need a physician's referral to begin physical therapy for back pain; you can come straight to us. Your insurance may have its own requirements, which is a separate question from state law, so it's worth checking both before your first visit.
No referral needed
Florida's direct-access law lets you begin care without seeing a doctor first. Here's exactly what that means and how it works.
Does your plan cover it?
We work with more than 200 insurance plans across all three clinics. Check whether yours is accepted before you book.
Related care: Where to go next
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The hands-on and exercise-based care behind our work on back, joint, and post-surgical recovery
Browse
All conditions we treat
See the full range of problems our physical therapist help with across Polk County
Care people trust: Polk County's back and neck patients, since 2013
Independent, veteran- and physical-therapist-owned, treating back, neck, and shoulder pain across three Polk County clinics.
8,000+
patients treated since founding in 2013
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Google reviews across our three clinics
4.9–5.0★
average rating, Lake Wales · Haines City · Winter Haven
My husband, Gerry, has been a patient at Core Physical Therapy for knee replacement issues, and back issues. The staff at CORE are very professional, and in each case made my husband at ease, very comfortable with their care, and attentiveness!! The atmosphere at CORE is very caring, and friendly!! Our family strongly recommends CORE !!
Barbara Lesser
via Google