Back pain being the substantial problem that it is, it is important to know the causes of back pain as well as how to prevent it.
Causes of Back Pain
Muscle Strain The leading cause of back pain is due to a simple muscle strain. At some point an individual may have an event that causes their muscle to spasm. These strains will relax in a matter of weeks.
Ruptured Disc A ruptured disc, or herniated disc, is another cause of back pain. Treatment may vary depending on many factors. Consult your physician for proper treatment.
Discogenic Back Pain This type of back pain may be a leading cause of low back pain. This type of pain is the result of damage to the intervertabral disc.
Arthritis Arthritis is a disease that affects joints in the fingers, wrists, and knees. Lumbar spine arthritis can affect the joints within the spine itself. Arthritis would cause you to have pain when you were moving.
There are many other factors that determine a person's probability of having back pain. Age, weight, and past injuries are all factors that can cause lower back pain. Let's take a look into ways to prevent future back pain.
Ways to Prevent Back Pain
Live a Healthy Lifestyle One of the best things you can do to prevent lower back pain is to maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight puts enormous pressure on your lower back. Maintaining a healthy core, or abdominal muscles, will help you support your back by providing proper posture.
Exercise You hear exercise as being the answer to preventing just about every medical condition on record. So much so, we tend to ignore it. Living an active lifestyle will increase muscle tone, decrease fat, and reduce levels of stress. Each of the factors plays a role in back pain. Muscle tone keeps your body strong and able function at optimal levels. Fat has a tendency to gather around the waist and hips. This puts undo strain on your lower back. Overall stress decreases the ability for the body to heal itself when it is injured.
Lift Properly When you lift, lift with your knees. Try to keep your back straight and force the weight through your legs and knees. Generally, your legs are the most muscular part of your body. These muscles are much more capable of handling stress and weight than your back muscles.
Back pain affects millions of people around the world. Some doctors estimate that three out of every four people will experience back problems in their lifetime. Back pain can be caused by many different things: From trauma and injuries to inappropriate bending and lifting and even disease. Although back pain is common, hundreds of hours of work time and productivity are lost from it each year. And while some people suffering back pain for a few short months before it disappears never to be felt again, others will feel the pain daily for their entire lifetime.
What Causes Back Pain?
If we discount disease, and servere trauma, most back pain comes from improper back care. Sitting incorrectly or lifting wrong can put strain on the back and cause pain.
The muscles of our trunk are where we get our strength to stand and move. They exert pressure that forces the bones to move. The muscles are the locomotive mechanisms that are constantly interrupted by the actions we take and the gravity and influence of the weight that affects us from the earth. When we perform asymmetrical (that is -- equal on both sides) actions, the muscles derive a degree of strength from the spinal column and the other muscles. The trunk and ribs also support these muscles to a degree.
But the muscles must be free to move independently, enabling us to perform asymmetrical (unequal on both sides) actions such as walking, swimming, running and turning.
During each movement, symmetrical or asymmetrical, the muscles will act by contracting. This means the muscles shrink, expend, tighten and narrow. During unequal actions, such as lifting incorrectly, we often force a small group of muscles to perform above its limits causing strain. The muscles start to absorb shock then will release pressure or tension.
Nerves get into the act when small tears occur in the muscles letting us know that we have done something wrong. Often we pay with pain or even a trip to the emergency room.
Lower Back Pain
But for the most part Lower Back Pain is simply caused by strain placed on the muscles supporting the spine. The fact is, the muscles of the lower back support most of the weight of an adult human body. The heavier the body, the greater the stress that is placed upon lower back muscles, and the more likely it is an individual can develop occasional soreness in the lower back. Weak or undeveloped stomach muscles may also contribute to back pain, as the muscles in the abdomen also help support the spine. Strengthening the abdominal muscles can help prevent lower back pain in some cases, or at least, make it far less frequent.
How Can We Avoid Back Pain?
Take care when lifting heavy objects. Stand straight with both feet flat on the floor. Bend at the knees not the hip and lift with your legs.
Practice good posture when sitting and standing. Don't slouch.
With proper care perhaps you can be one of the one in four who will not have back pain in your lifetime.
Both Robert & James London-devasher are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Robert has sinced written about articles on various topics from Mens Health, Fitness and Health Insurance. Dr. Kevin M. Smith is the founder and clinic director of Advanced Chiropractic, P.C.