Back pain after lifting something heavy: what to do now

Back pain after lifting something heavy is usually a strain of the muscles and soft tissue around the lower back, and it usually settles without any treatment beyond what you can do at home. The NHS puts staying active and carrying on with your daily routine at the top of its back pain advice and says not to spend long periods in bed, which is the opposite of what the first evening makes you want to do. For the first two or three days, move little and often, change position before the back demands it, use a wrapped heat pack if the muscles have gripped, and consider an anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen if that suits you; the NHS says paracetamol on its own is not recommended for back pain. On timing, the NHS says back pain often improves within a few weeks and can sometimes last longer or come back, and neither it nor healthdirect in Australia puts a figure on a single lifting episode, so a confident day count from any website is somebody's guess. What matters more than the number is the shape of your symptoms: pain that stays in the back behaves differently from pain that travels down the leg below the knee with numbness or tingling, and the second one is worth an appointment rather than a wait. Pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs, loss of feeling around your genitals or bottom, or new bladder or bowel trouble is an emergency.

Warning signs, and when to get help

What back pain after lifting something heavy usually is

The commonest answer is the least dramatic one. The NHS defines a strain as an overstretched or torn muscle, which is the same thing people mean by a pulled muscle, and that is what most backs have done after a heavy lift. You feel it low down, often more on one side, and it is worst on the first movement after you have been still. healthdirect makes the point that most cases of back pain are not caused by a serious medical problem, and that in most cases no specific cause is ever found.

The lift is rarely the whole story either. healthdirect names a sudden increase in load on the spine, such as lifting heavy objects or children when you are not used to it, as something that makes back pain worse, and the words worth noticing there are "not used to it". Most of the backs we see in clinic after a lifting injury had a week behind them already: long drives, bad sleep, a heavier training week, or a house move where the sofa was the twentieth thing carried rather than the first. The box gets blamed because it is the moment you can remember.

So the useful question on day one is not what tore. It is where the symptoms go. Pain that stays in the back and buttock is one thing. Pain that travels down a leg, past the knee, with numbness, tingling or weakness, is another and takes longer. And a short list of signs means stopping and getting help today, which is what the warning signs section is for.

One group should read the warning signs before any of the self-care. If you are older, have low bone density (osteoporosis), or have taken steroid tablets for a long time, back pain that started with a lift or a strain is on this page's same day list, because a bone in the spine can break under a load it used to take. Sudden, severe pain low in the back or the tummy is on the emergency list for anyone over 60 or with the other risk factors named there.

If your back locked solid at the moment of the lift and now refuses to let go, read back spasm alongside this page, because the first hour of that is handled slightly differently.

What to do in the first 48 hours

Start by getting out of the position that hurt, then get into whichever one lets the back settle. Lying on your back with the knees bent and feet flat suits most people, lying on one side with a pillow between the knees is the next to try, and standing with a hand on a wall beats both for some. There is no correct position, only the one that takes a couple of points off your pain. Breathing out slowly helps more than it sounds like it should, because bracing against pain keeps the whole trunk switched on.

Then do less resting than you want to. The NHS puts staying active and carrying on with daily activities at the top of its list and puts spending long periods in bed under what not to do. Short and frequent is the target: up on your feet for a couple of minutes every half hour, a walk to the end of the street and back a few times across the day, and out of the chair before it stiffens you rather than after.

For comfort, the NHS names a heat pack or hot water bottle wrapped in a tea towel for stiffness and muscle spasms, and a wrapped ice pack for pain and swelling. It suggests considering an anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen if that suits you, says paracetamol on its own is not recommended for back pain although it may be used with another painkiller, and tells you to ask a pharmacist if you are unsure which is right for you.

Sleep is worth planning before bedtime rather than at midnight. Getting in and out of bed is usually the worst movement of the first two days, so roll onto your side and push up with your arms instead of sitting straight up, and keep the knees bent while you turn over. Our page on sleeping positions for back pain has the detail, and back pain at work and sitting covers the first day back at a desk.

Lower back pain after lifting, and what the location tells you

Most of this lands in the lower back, between the bottom rib and the top of the pelvis, and usually more on one side than the other. One sided pain after a lift is ordinary and does not mean something is out of place. People often arrive at an appointment standing with a lean, apologizing for it; that lean is the muscles doing their job, and it unwinds as the episode settles. Our page on lower back pain on one side covers that pattern in more detail.

Pain that bites when you bend forward, tie a shoe or lean over the sink is the usual flavor for the first few days, and it is covered on lower back pain when bending forward. A back that is stiffest in the first half hour of the morning and loosens as the day goes on is also ordinary early on, though lower back pain in the morning explains when that pattern means something else.

Two locations change the plan rather than the detail. Pain that sits high up between the shoulder blades rather than low down is on this page's routine list and should be looked at before you start exercising. And pain in the tummy as well as the back, coming on suddenly and severely, is on the emergency list.

Did you slip a disc, or pull a muscle?

This is the question underneath most searches after a heavy lift, and the answer is in where the symptoms travel rather than in how much it hurt. A strain mostly stays local, feels mechanical, and improves day by day. A disc pressing on a nerve root sends symptoms down the leg, and the NHS describes sciatica as pain, tingling, numbness or weakness mainly in the buttock and the back of one leg, sometimes reaching the foot and toes, worsened by movement, sneezing or coughing. It also says you probably do not have sciatica if you only have back pain, which is worth hearing if you have been told otherwise.

Anything below the knee, with or without pins and needles, puts you on this page's two week list. That is not an alarm. It is a recognition that nerve pain has a longer course, responds to a different program, and benefits from being named properly. The sciatica program and the lumbar disc herniation program are the staged versions, and when sciatica needs urgent care sets out the small number of nerve signs that do not wait.

The NHS gives sciatica a different timeline too: usually a few weeks to a few months, sometimes longer, and it can come back. Knowing that in week two saves a lot of worry in week six.

Heat or ice, and what else is worth trying

Heat, if the back is gripping, and we will be honest about why that is less tidy than it looks. The NHS back pain page gives heat the stiffness and spasm job and ice the pain and swelling job. Its sprains and strains page then says to avoid heat, including hot baths and heat packs, for the first couple of days after an injury, so as not to add to the swelling.

Those two are written for different jobs, and they are not equal here. The avoid-heat rule is first aid for a sprained joint and has not been tested in back pain, while the back pain page is the one written for backs, and healthdirect also names heat packs for back pain with a warning not to burn your skin. Neither has a large body of research behind it, although heat has the better of the two for a new episode, so in practice we let people use the one that helps. Our page on heat or ice for back pain goes through the trials. Wrapped, 15 to 20 minutes, never slept on.

What is more likely to change your week is the dull stuff. Walking daily, even a few minutes at a time. Varying position before the back asks you to, and keeping the load light rather than zero. Our page on how long back pain lasts puts numbers around that, and the pulled back muscle program is the one to follow if your story is a straightforward strain.

When can you lift again?

Almost straight away, lighter than before, and this is where most recoveries go wrong in one direction or the other. Stopping all lifting for a month leaves you with a back that tolerates less than it did before the injury. Going back to the same weight on day three usually buys another flare. There is no guideline we can read that sets a day count for returning to lifting after a back strain, so treat any specific number you are given as an opinion.

The method that works is boring and reliable. Keep doing the lifting you cannot avoid, with the load held close and the hips moving rather than the back rounding at the bottom. Add weight back in steps of roughly a quarter at a time. Then judge each step by the next morning rather than by how it felt at the time: settled by breakfast means the step was right, and stiffer and sorer all the next day means you jumped too far and should go back to the last comfortable step for a few more days.

Picking up a toddler is the version nobody plans for, because toddlers do not wait to be lifted with good technique. Get as close as you can, bend at the hips and knees rather than the waist, and ask for them to be put into your arms rather than lifted off the floor in the first week. If the lifting that hurt you was barbell work, back pain after deadlifts is the page for that, and returning to the gym after injury is the route back.

Exercises for the days after

Bird dog is done on hands and knees, with your weight through your arms, so it carries a check of its own. After a broken wrist, hand or forearm, or surgery on any of them, start bird dog only when your doctor, surgeon, physio or hand therapist says the bone or the repair is ready to take weight through the arms.

Exercises that can help

Leave these alone while the back is still catching on every movement. They are for the days after, once you can change position without guarding. The pelvic tilt often starts at 2 to 3 sets of 10, holding each tilt for about 5 seconds, once or twice a day. The knee to chest stretch commonly uses 3 to 5 gentle holds of about 15 to 30 seconds on each leg, and the lower trunk rotation 10 to 15 slow rolls to each side with a 3 to 5 second hold at the end of each one. The glute bridge often begins at 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 12 with a short hold at the top, and bird dog at 1 to 2 sets of 6 to 10 on each side, holding a few seconds at first and building toward 8 to 10. Brisk walking in the first days after a strain often starts shorter than the 10 to 20 minutes on its own page, at 5 to 10 minutes a few times a day, which is a clinic adjustment rather than a figure any trial has set, building by a few minutes at a time toward 10 to 20 minutes on most days once the back has settled, and adding time before speed. Your physio will adjust this. Stop anything that reproduces the pain you felt during the lift, and try it again in a day or two rather than pushing through. If you have high blood pressure, breathe steadily through every repetition and never hold your breath. With a heart or lung condition, high blood pressure, or after a recent operation, ask your doctor or physio how much to walk and how fast before you start the brisk walking. With low bone density (osteoporosis), ask your physio before the knee to chest stretch and the lower trunk rotation, because deep forward bending and twisting to the end of the range are usually limited, and use the version of bird dog where the hand and knee return to the floor instead of tucking in. If you have had a fracture in your spine, check with your physio before you begin. If you have had a hip replacement, get the go-ahead from your surgeon or physio before you try the knee to chest stretch, the lower trunk rotation, the glute bridge and bird dog. Pulling the knee in bends the hip well past a right angle, and lifting the leg behind you takes it back behind the line of your body, and many surgeons ask you to avoid that for the first months after some operations. After recent heart or chest surgery, get your surgeon's or surgical team's okay before bird dog, because with one arm lifted your whole upper body weight goes through the other hand and shears across the healing breastbone. If the breastbone clicks, grinds, shifts or feels as if it is moving while you do it, stop, and contact your surgical team the same day. If you have had spinal surgery, follow the plan from your surgical team rather than this page. If you are pregnant or gave birth recently, the back and the pelvis are loaded differently and the program is different too, so start at our pregnancy back and pelvic pain program instead and ask your midwife, doctor or physio.

When to see a physio (physical therapist)

Book an appointment if the back has not improved after a few weeks of looking after it at home, if it is stopping your normal activities, or if you are worried about it or struggling to cope, which are the three triggers the NHS names. Go sooner if anything travels below the knee, and sooner still if anything on the warning list fits you. We would add one of our own: a back that has now gone three or four times after lifting is worth an assessment even when each episode settles, because the repeat is the part that treatment can change.

Bring the details that are easy to lose by the time you get an appointment. What you were lifting and how it was positioned. Which single movement is worst now. Whether anything travels down the leg, and how far. What it does in bed, and what the first half hour of the morning is like.

A physio will test the joints, muscles and nerves, work out what the back was being asked to do that day, and then load it back up at a rate it can take, which is the part that stops the next one.

Some signs should not wait: read the warning signs section on this page and act on the timing given for each line, because they are not all at the same level of urgency.

Related exercise programs

Warning signs

Get emergency help now

Emergency: numbness, tingling or altered feeling around or under your genitals, between your inner thighs, or around your bottom (anus), for example it feels different when you wipe after using the toilet. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself. This can be a sign of pressure on the bundle of nerves at the base of the spine (cauda equina syndrome), which needs emergency treatment.
Emergency: you find it hard to start peeing, cannot pee, cannot feel yourself peeing or cannot control when you pee, or you do not notice when you need to poo or cannot control when you poo, and this is not normal for you. The same applies to a new change in how your genitals feel during sex, new trouble getting or keeping an erection, new trouble ejaculating, or new trouble reaching orgasm. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself. These can also be signs of cauda equina syndrome.
Emergency: sciatica in both legs, or pain, tingling, numbness or weakness in both legs. The same applies if you lose feeling in one leg. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself.
Emergency: back or leg pain that started after a serious accident, such as a car crash or a fall from a height, or back pain with chest pain. Call emergency services. If the pain started straight after the accident, keep still while you wait.
Emergency: you suddenly become short of breath, you get chest pain or pain in your upper back that may be worse when you breathe in, you cough up blood, your heart is beating very fast, or you faint. Call emergency services straight away, even if your leg looks normal. These can be signs of a blood clot in the lungs (pulmonary embolism).
Emergency: sudden, severe pain in your lower back or tummy that is not like your usual back pain, if you have been told you have a swelling of the main blood vessel in your tummy (abdominal aortic aneurysm), you are over 60, you smoke or used to smoke, or you have high blood pressure. The same applies if sudden, severe back or tummy pain comes with feeling faint or passing out, pale, sweaty or clammy skin, a racing heartbeat or being short of breath. Call emergency services straight away. This can be a sign of an aneurysm bursting, which needs treatment in hospital at once.
Emergency: you have had cancer, now or in the past, and your back or neck pain feels like a tight band around your body, or you have new or worsening pain spreading down an arm or leg, weakness, numbness, pins and needles or a loss of feeling in your arms or legs, trouble walking, or trouble controlling your bladder or bowels. Those symptoms count on their own, with or without back or neck pain. Call your cancer team's emergency number straight away, or go to an emergency department if you do not have one or cannot get through. This can be cancer pressing on the spinal cord (metastatic spinal cord compression), which needs treatment straight away.
Emergency: new neck or back pain after a fall, a knock or a jolt, even a minor one such as a trip or a sudden stop in a car, if you have a condition that stiffens the spine, such as ankylosing spondylitis. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, do not drive yourself, and tell the staff about your spine condition, so they keep your neck and back in their usual position. A stiff spine can break after a small injury, and the break is easy to miss at first. If the pain started straight after the injury, or you also have numbness, tingling or weakness in your arms or legs, keep still and call emergency services.
Emergency: back pain with a fever, or you feel hot, shivery or very unwell, and you also have new weakness, numbness or tingling in one or both legs, or new trouble with your bladder or bowels. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away. This can be an infection pressing on the nerves in the spine (spinal epidural abscess), which needs emergency treatment.

Get help today

Same day: a leg or foot that is getting weaker, for example your foot drags, catches on the ground or slaps down when you walk (foot drop). Get medical advice the same day. If the weakness is getting worse by the hour, go to an emergency department.
Same day: back or leg pain with a fever, or you feel hot, cold, shivery or generally unwell. Get medical advice the same day, and go to an emergency department if you feel very unwell.
Same day: severe pain that comes on suddenly or is getting worse quickly. Get medical advice the same day.
Same day: pain so severe that you cannot walk or move, or cannot get up off the floor or out of bed at all. Get medical advice the same day, which is the urgent route healthdirect gives for back pain, and go to an emergency department if you cannot get up and cannot get advice.
Same day: back pain after a minor fall or strain if you are older, have low bone density (osteoporosis) or have taken steroid tablets for a long time. Get medical advice the same day. Until it has been checked, stop the exercises and keep away from lifting, bending forward and twisting, because those load a bone in the spine that may be broken.
Same day: you have back pain and have lost weight without trying. Get medical advice the same day and mention the weight loss.
Same day: new back pain and you have had cancer, now or in the past. Get medical advice the same day and mention your cancer history. If you are being treated for cancer now, contact your cancer team the same day.
Same day: a calf or thigh that is newly swollen or getting more swollen, warm, tender, red or darker than usual, has swollen veins that are sore to touch, or has a throbbing or cramping pain that does not fit your injury or condition, or that feels different from normal muscle soreness after exercise. This can be a sign of a blood clot (deep vein thrombosis), especially after surgery, an injury, time in a cast or boot, a long trip or a spell of being much less mobile than usual. Get medical advice the same day. If you are also short of breath or have chest pain, call emergency services.
Same day: pain that is worse at night, or does not ease at all when you rest. If you have had cancer, now or in the past, or you have lost weight without trying, get medical advice the same day.

Book an appointment

Within a few days: pain that is worse at night, or does not ease at all when you rest. See your doctor within a few days.
Within 2 weeks: pain that spreads down the leg below the knee, especially with numbness or tingling in the leg or foot. Book an appointment with a doctor or physio.
Within a week or two: back or buttock pain that started before the age of 45, has lasted more than three months, is worse after rest and in the morning, and eases when you move. This is not an emergency, but see your doctor in the next week or two and ask whether it could be inflammatory back pain (axial spondyloarthritis).
Routine: back pain that comes from the top of your back, between your shoulders, rather than your lower back, and has not been checked, or back pain that is worse when you sneeze, cough or poo, or comes with a lump or swelling, or a back that has changed shape. Book an appointment with your doctor, as the NHS advises, and have it checked before you start this program. If the pain came on suddenly, get medical advice the same day.

Common questions

How long does back pain last after lifting something heavy?

Nobody can give you an honest number for your own back, and the sources we trust do not try. The NHS back pain page says back pain often improves within a few weeks, and that it can sometimes last longer or keep coming back. Its separate page on sprains and strains says most sprains and strains feel better after 2 weeks, that strenuous exercise such as running is best avoided for up to 8 weeks because of the risk of further damage, and that severe ones can take months, although that page is written for sprains and strains in general rather than for the lower back in particular. healthdirect in Australia gives no timeframe at all and instead says to see a doctor if new back pain is not improving after about 6 weeks. In clinic the pattern we see most often after one bad lift is a sharp few days, a stiff and cautious week, then a few weeks of feeling almost normal with the odd reminder. Watch the trend rather than any single bad morning: easing over a fortnight is ordinary, and no change at all after a few weeks of home care is the NHS's own reason to see a GP.

What should I do if my back hurts after lifting something heavy?

Stop the task, get out of the position that hurt, and then deliberately do less resting than you feel like doing. The NHS lists staying active and carrying on with daily activities first, and lists not spending long periods in bed under what not to do. For the first two or three days, aim for short, frequent movement: stand up and walk the length of the house every half hour or so, and get out of a chair before the back stiffens into it rather than after. The NHS suggests considering an anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen if it suits you, says paracetamol on its own is not recommended for back pain although it may be used alongside another painkiller, and names a wrapped heat pack for stiffness and muscle spasms and a wrapped ice pack for pain and swelling. Pick your lifting back up gradually rather than banning it, because a back that is never loaded again does not get stronger.

Did I slip a disc or just pull a muscle?

Where the pain travels tells you more than how badly it hurt at the time. A strain of the muscles and soft tissue usually stays in the back and the top of the buttock, feels worse on the first movement after sitting still, and eases as you warm up. A disc pressing on a nerve root usually sends something down the leg: the NHS describes sciatica as pain, tingling, numbness or weakness that mostly affects the buttock and the back of one leg, sometimes reaching the foot and toes, and adds that you probably do not have sciatica if you only have back pain. Pain that reaches past the knee, a patch of skin that feels dulled, or a foot that feels weak all point that way, and so does pain that flares when you sneeze or cough. None of this is a diagnosis you can finish at home, which is why our lumbar disc herniation program and sciatica program both start with an examination. The sorting matters mainly because the timeline is longer for the nerve version, not because one is dangerous and the other is not.

Should I rest or keep moving after hurting my back lifting?

Keep moving, in smaller doses than usual. The instinct after a lifting injury is to lie down until it stops hurting, and the NHS back pain page addresses that directly: stay active and continue with your daily activities, and do not spend long periods in bed. healthdirect says the same, that staying active and gradually returning to normal activities is the best approach, and adds the sensible qualifier that if an activity makes the pain worse you slow down and take it gently. Rest has a place in the first hours, when the back is genuinely too sore to stand up straight, and that is not the same as a week on the sofa. Pain so bad that you cannot walk or move at all is different again, and that is on the same day list rather than something to lie down with. Our page on whether to rest or move goes through why movement wins here even though it feels wrong.

Is it heat or ice for back pain after lifting?

Heat for the gripping, and the sources are not as neat about it as you would hope. The NHS back pain page names a heat pack or hot water bottle, wrapped in a tea towel, for joint stiffness and muscle spasms, and a wrapped ice pack for pain and swelling, so even within one page the two have different jobs. Its sprains and strains page then advises avoiding heat, including hot baths and heat packs, for the first couple of days after an injury, to limit swelling. A lifting strain sits between them, but the two are not equal: the avoid-heat rule is first aid for a sprained joint and has not been tested in back pain, while the back pain page is the one written for backs, and healthdirect also names heat packs for back pain. Neither has a large body of research behind it, although heat has the better of the two for a new episode: the American College of Physicians recommends superficial heat for back pain of recent onset on moderate-quality evidence, and there was too little research on cold for a Cochrane review to say either way. If 15 to 20 minutes of wrapped heat loosens the back, use it; if a cold pack suits you better, that is not a mistake. Keep a towel between the pack and your skin either way, and do not fall asleep on a heat pack. Our page on heat or ice for back pain sets out what the evidence does and does not support.

When should I go to hospital for back pain after lifting?

For a short list of things, and the list is not about how severe the pain is. The NHS says to call 999 or go to A and E for pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs, loss of feeling around your genitals or anus, a change in bladder or bowel control, a change in how your genitals feel during sex, trouble getting or keeping an erection, or not being able to orgasm, chest pain, or back pain that started after a serious accident. The NHS also says not to drive yourself there: ask someone to drive you or call for an ambulance. Those signs can mean pressure on the bundle of nerves at the base of the spine, which is treated as an emergency because waiting costs function rather than comfort. A separate group needs medical advice the same day rather than an ambulance, including a fever, a leg or foot that is getting weaker, severe pain that came on suddenly or is getting worse quickly, and pain so severe that you cannot walk or move. Read the warning signs section on this page line by line, because the timings on it are not the same.

When can I lift again after hurting my back?

Sooner than most people expect, and lighter than most people want. No guideline we can read sets a number of days for returning to lifting after a back strain, so anyone quoting you one is quoting themselves. What works in practice is to keep lifting the things you cannot avoid, using a stance that lets you keep the load close and your hips moving, and to add weight back in steps of roughly a quarter at a time, judging each step by how the back is the next morning rather than during the lift itself. Soreness that has settled by breakfast means the step was about right. A back that is stiffer and sorer the next day means you went up too fast, so drop back to the last step that was comfortable and spend a few more days there. If your lifting is barbell work, our page on back pain after deadlifts covers the gym version in more detail, and returning to the gym after injury covers the way back in.

References

NHS. Back pain. Read 29 October 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/back-pain/
NHS. Sprains and strains. Read 29 October 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sprains-and-strains/
NHS. Sciatica. Read 29 October 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sciatica/
healthdirect. Back pain. Australian Government. Read 29 October 2026. https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/symptoms/aches-and-pains/back-pain
NHS. Abdominal aortic aneurysm. Read 29 October 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/abdominal-aortic-aneurysm/
NHS. DVT (deep vein thrombosis). Read 29 October 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/deep-vein-thrombosis-dvt/
NHS. Pulmonary embolism. Page last reviewed 15 October 2026. Read 29 October 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pulmonary-embolism/
Qaseem A, Wilt TJ, McLean RM, Forciea MA. Noninvasive treatments for acute, subacute, and chronic low back pain: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2017;166(7):514-530. https://doi.org/10.7326/M16-2367
French SD, Cameron M, Walker BF, Reggars JW, Esterman AJ. Superficial heat or cold for low back pain. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2006;(1):CD004750. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD004750.pub2
Darouiche RO. Spinal epidural abscess. New England Journal of Medicine. 2006;355(19):2012-2020. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra055111
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Abdominal aortic aneurysm: diagnosis and management (NG156), recommendation 1.1.7. Published 19 March 2020. Read 29 October 2026. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng156
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Spondyloarthritis in over 16s: diagnosis and management (NG65). Published 28 February 2017, last updated 2 June 2017. Read 29 October 2026. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng65
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Spinal metastases and metastatic spinal cord compression (NG234). Published 6 September 2023. Read 29 October 2026. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng234

Written and checked by the PocketPhysio editorial team. Last updated 2026-10-29.

This page is general education, not a diagnosis or a personal treatment plan. See a physiotherapist or doctor for advice about your own situation.