The symptoms of lower back pain vary from mild discomfort lasting for a short period to severe pain that is long term. Therefore if you are undergoing pain in your back and don't seek some kind of treatment for backache, the pain could become a recurring one which would be harder to prevent. Back pain can be caused by excessive stress on the back, fractures, or arthritis of the spine; however, the most common cause is a sprain or strain.

A women gains an average of 25 pounds during pregnancy and loses most of it in the weeks following birth. As your uterus grows, its size causes your canter of balance to shift. To compensate for a heavier abdomen, you throw your shoulders back. This puts pressure on the lower back and gives pregnant women the "duck waddle" in their walk. Ligaments connect the uterus to the lower back and to the groin; as the baby grows, these stretch and cause pain. The pelvis is the bony structure through which the baby passes as he is born; in order to make room for him, the ligaments in the pelvis must stretch during pregnancy.

Causes of Low Back Pain

There are many diseases and injuries that can cause back pain. If back pain comes on suddenly, it's usually a sign of a muscle tear, sprained ligament, or ruptured disc. The spine contains intervertebral discs, a kind of cushion made of cartilage that fits between two vertebrae (bone segments). A slipped disc occurs when pressure on a disc causes it to bulge or rupture, pushing cartilage sideways. The cartilage presses on the spinal cord nerves, causing intense pain.

Nutrition for a Healthy Back

Backache prevention and treatment are also connected with diet. Daily meals of a person taking care of their back should contain plenty of raw vegetables and fruits (except bananas). The backache sufferer should have three to four meals every day, which include, apart from fruits and vegetables, wholewheat products, milk and fruit juice. One suffering from back pain should avoid fatty and fried food, sugar, spicy condiments, strong tea and coffee.

Evening primrose and borage seed oils may help. A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine reported that tender and swollen joints were reduced in patients taking the gammalinolenic acid dose as opposed to a group taking a placebo (sugar pill). Black currant seed oil may also may reduce inflammation and joint tissue injury. The study was published in the British Journal of Rheumatology. If you are taking medication for arthritic pain, you may wish to combine it with either vitamin E or C. A study reported in Arzneimittelforschung reported that combining antioxidants or vitamin E with indometacin, sulphasalazine and/or indometacin controlled symptoms more effectively than drugs alone.

Remedies

Rhus toxicodendron: This remedy can be useful for pain in the neck and shoulders as well as the lower back, when the pain is worse on initial movement and improves with continued motion. Even though in pain, the person finds it hard to lie down or stay still for very long, and often restlessly paces about. Aching and stiffness are aggravated in cold damp weather and relieved by warm applications, baths or showers, and massage.

Sulphur: This remedy is often indicated when a person with back pain has a slouching posture. The back is weak and the person feels much worse from standing up for any length of time. Pain is also worse from stooping. Warmth may aggravate the pain and inflammation.