Back Pain for Geelong Tradies: Why Your Job Is Hurting Your Spine

If you work with your hands for a living — whether you’re a builder, plumber, electrician, concreter, or in any other trade — your body takes a battering that most desk workers never experience. Repetitive lifting, awkward postures, working overhead, kneeling on hard surfaces, vibration from tools — it adds up fast.

Back pain is one of the most common reasons tradies end up off work. And it doesn’t always start as a dramatic injury. Often it creeps up — a bit of stiffness here, a niggle that doesn’t quite go away, until one day something gives.

At Latrobe Terrace Chiropractic in Geelong, we see a lot of tradies. We understand the physical demands of your work and the reality that you can’t always just stop and rest.

Why Tradies Get Back Pain

The trades involve a combination of factors that are particularly hard on the spine:

Heavy lifting and awkward loads — carrying materials, shifting equipment, working from van boots and tight spaces. When your technique isn’t perfect (and whose is at 3pm after a full day?), your spine absorbs the load.

Repetitive bending and twisting — concreting, tiling, plumbing under sinks and in tight ceiling spaces all involve repeated flexion and rotation that strains the lumbar spine over time.

Vibration — driving a work vehicle or using heavy equipment exposes your spine to continuous vibration, which is a recognised risk factor for lower back problems.

Static awkward postures — holding a position for extended periods (think overhead work, crouching in a crawl space) creates significant muscular and joint strain.

Cumulative load — no single task necessarily causes the injury. It’s the repeated exposure over weeks, months, and years that gradually erodes your tolerance.

What We Can Do

Chiropractic care is well-suited to the kinds of issues tradies commonly develop. Dr. Nicholas Robb (AHPRA registered) uses a combination of spinal adjustments, soft tissue therapy, and practical advice to help you get on top of pain and keep working.

We’ll assess what’s actually going on — where the restriction or dysfunction is — and address it directly. We’ll also give you some exercises and strategies to help manage load between visits and reduce the risk of things getting worse.

We’re realistic. You’ve got a job to do and a living to earn. Our goal is to get you functional and keep you that way, not to have you in the clinic forever.

What About WorkSafe or Income Protection?

If your back injury is work-related and you’re looking at making a claim, we can provide clinical documentation. We’d recommend you also speak with your employer and, if relevant, seek advice from WorkSafe Victoria. We’re happy to coordinate with your GP or other treating practitioners.

When Should You Come In?

Don’t wait until you can’t get out of bed. If you’ve had recurring back pain or stiffness that’s been going on for more than a week or two, or you’ve had a back injury that seemed to recover but keeps coming back, it’s worth getting assessed.

The sooner we can identify what’s happening and start addressing it, the better your outcome tends to be.

Book an Appointment

Call us on (03) 5224 1838 or book online at chirogeelong.au. First visit is $65.

Latrobe Terrace Chiropractic is located at 293 Latrobe Terrace, Geelong.