Low Back Pain Treatment — Loveland, CO
Back Pain Isn’t a Back Problem. It’s a Support System Problem.
Your spine is held in place by muscles. When those muscles stop working — and they do, often without you knowing it — your back has to take on loads it was never meant to handle alone. That’s what causes disc problems, nerve pain, stiffness, and the kind of back pain that keeps coming back no matter what you try. One80 PT finds exactly which muscles have shut off and gets them working again. Most patients feel a real difference the same day.
Conditions we treat
What’s causing your back pain?
Find your condition below. Whether it’s a disc, a nerve, structural changes, or chronic mechanical pain — the root cause is almost always the same: the deep muscles that hold the spine in place have stopped working. We fix that.
General Low Back Pain
If your back pain keeps coming back, it’s not bad luck — it’s a pattern that hasn’t been fixed. The deep muscles that are supposed to hold your spine steady have shut off, and your back is absorbing forces it was never designed to take alone. Discs get compressed. Nerves get irritated. Joints get overloaded. Pain follows — and keeps following until the right muscles start doing their job again.
Stretching and general core exercises don’t reliably turn these muscles back on. The muscles we most often find turned off are the ones deep in your pelvis and lower back that most people have never heard of: the multifidus, the transverse abdominis, and the hip stabilizers on one or both sides. Targeted neuromuscular work does. That’s what makes One80 different from the PT most people have already tried.
Disc Herniation & Sciatica
Sharp, burning, or shooting pain from your lower back down through your butt and into your leg — that’s sciatica. The sciatic nerve is being compressed, usually by a bulging disc. But discs don’t just bulge randomly. They bulge because the muscles that hold the spine in place have stopped doing their job, and the disc is taking more pressure than it can handle.
When those muscles start working properly again and take the pressure off the disc, the disc often moves back on its own. The nerve pain goes away because the nerve is no longer being squeezed. Sciatica that has been going on for months often improves dramatically within just a few visits when the root cause is properly addressed.
Spinal Stenosis
Stenosis means the space inside your spine has narrowed and nerves are being squeezed. But how tight that feels day to day is not fixed — it changes depending on how well your muscles are supporting your spine. When the muscles that hold the spine in a neutral position are working well, the spinal canal has more room. When they fail, the canal narrows further and nerves get squeezed more.
This is why many stenosis patients feel much worse when they stand and walk for a while, but better when they sit or bend forward — those positions open the canal temporarily. The real solution is restoring the muscle support that keeps the canal open all the time. Most stenosis patients see meaningful improvement in walking tolerance and leg symptoms within 4–8 visits.
Spondylolisthesis
Spondylolisthesis means one of the bones in your spine has slipped forward on the bone below it. It can cause low back pain, leg pain, tightness in the hamstrings, and a feeling of instability. For most people with Grade 1 or 2 slips, the pain is very manageable — when the right muscles are working.
How much pain you feel depends on how well the muscles around the slipped bone are supporting it. When the deep spine muscles are strong and active, they take load off the slipped area and reduce stress on surrounding structures. Many people with spondylolisthesis find they can do significantly more than they thought once the right muscles are doing their job.
Why One80 PT gets back results when other clinics don’t
Most back PT gives you stretching, heat, and electrical stimulation. One80 starts with the deep muscles that are supposed to hold the spine in place — the multifidus, transverse abdominis, and hip stabilizers. Most people have never had these muscles specifically assessed or treated. That’s why their back pain keeps returning. We fix it at the source.
We serve patients from Loveland, Fort Collins, Berthoud, Windsor, Timnath, and across Northern Colorado. One therapist. One patient. Every visit.
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Common questions about back pain
I’ve had back pain for 10 years. Can it actually be fixed?
Yes — even long-standing back pain responds to proper neuromuscular treatment when the right muscles are identified and restored. The longer it’s been there, the more compensation patterns have built up around it — but those patterns unwind once the root cause is addressed.
My MRI shows a bulging disc. Is that causing my pain?
Maybe — but maybe not. Studies have found bulging discs in people with zero back pain. What matters is whether the disc is pressing on a nerve and whether the muscles supporting the spine are doing their job. We assess function, not just images.
My doctor wants me to have a steroid injection. Should I try PT first?
In most cases, yes. Steroid injections reduce inflammation around the nerve and provide relief — but they don’t fix the disc or the muscles causing the problem. PT that addresses the root cause produces more lasting results.
Do you treat back pain in Fort Collins and surrounding areas?
Yes. One80 Physical Therapy is located in Loveland, CO and serves patients from Fort Collins, Berthoud, Windsor, Timnath, and across Northern Colorado.
Ready to find out why your back really hurts?
Call (970) 593-9300 or book your free consultation.
One therapist. One patient. Results on your first visit — guaranteed.