Common Causes Of Chronic Back Pain
Chronic back painis usually age-related, but can also result from a prior injury. The mostcommon causes include:
- Arthritis of the spine the gradual thinning of the cartilage inside the spine
- Spinal stenosis narrowing of the spinal canal that may lead to nerve pain
- Disc problems, such as a herniated or bulging disc
- Myofascial pain syndromeunexplained muscle pain and tenderness
In some cases, its difficult to pinpoint the cause of chronic back pain.If your doctor has exhausted all diagnostic options, its time to seek asecond opinion from a back pain specialist, recommends Nava. Itsimportant not to make rushed decisions or undergo extensive medicalprocedures until the origin of the pain is found. Not only may they nothelp they could make the pain worse, warns Nava.
If the source of the pain is not known or cant be treated, your bestoption may be to work with your doctor on reducing the flare-ups and makingthe pain manageable with nonsurgical treatments.
Exercises To Keep Low Back Pain Away For Good
One of the interesting things that youre going to notice during the movement described above is how weak the glute medius is.
If you want to reduce the pain over time and keep it away, youll need to strengthen that muscle.
Here are some exercises to strengthen the glute medius and get rid of this pain once and for all.
Take Action: Prevent Injuries
Good posture can help prevent back pain.
- Try not to slouch when standing and sitting
- Sit up straight with your back against the back of your chair and your feet flat on the floor if possible, keep your knees slightly higher than your hips
- Stand tall with your head up and shoulders back
- If you can, switch between standing and sitting so youre not in the same position for too long
- Find out how to have good posture while sitting at a computer
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Are You Making Your Back Pain Worse
Don’t be guilty of exacerbating your already achy back. Try these tips for preventing added low back pain:
- Wear comfortable, low-heeled shoes if you are on your feet all day.
- Don’t slouch when standing or sitting.
- At home or work, make sure work surfaces are at a comfortable height.
- Warm-up and stretch before exercise or other strenuous physical activity.
- Don’t try to lift objects that are too heavy and don’t twist while lifting.
- Live a healthy lifestyle, stop smoking, and keep off the extra weight.
If You Don’t Feel Better After Four Weeks See A Doctor Because It Could Be Another Condition Like Osteoporosis
Back pain can stem from an injury, such as muscle strain from lifting a heavy object. Or it can be caused by wear and tear on the joints, disks, and ligaments that hold the spine in place. Chronic back pain often arises from disks that have degenerated. That can result in slipped disks that can bulge and press on nerves. Sometimes slipped disks allow the spines bones , which are otherwise normally supported in place by the disks, to slide on top of each other and also irritate nerves. Osteoporosis can cause compression fractures that can also lead to lower back pain. About 80 percent of adults suffer from lower back pain at some point, and it affects more women than men.
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What Are Some Other Causes Of Lower Back Pain
The shape of your spine, and well as spinal diseases, are other culprits in lower back pain. Depending on a range of factors, your doctor may look for:
Abnormal spinal curvature. A normal spine resembles a gently curved letter S when seen from the side. Abnormal curves include:
- Lordosis, in which the spine curves too far inward at the lower back
- Kyphosis, in which the spine is abnormally rounded in the upper back
- Scoliosis, in which the spine curves from side to side, often in a C shape
Normal and abnormal curves of the spineArthritis. There are more than 100 types of arthritis, many of which can cause lower back pain. The most common types include osteoarthritis , rheumatoid arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis.
Cauda equina syndrome . Compression of the bundle of nerves that forms below the spinal cord in the lumbar spine. It is a rare but serious disorder that requires immediate medical attention and possibly emergency surgery. CES got its name from the fact that the fanned-out bundle of nerves resembles the base of a horses tail.
Discitis or osteomyelitis.Both infections of discs and bone can cause severe pain and require prompt medical attention.
Spinal tumors. When cells divide and multiply unchecked, the result is a tumor. Both benign and malignant tumors can cause lower back pain. They can either originate in the spine or metastasize there, meaning theyve spread from somewhere else in the body.
Tips For Dealing With Lower Back Pain
By Robert Greenleaf, MD, Spine Surgeon
Lower back pain is extremely common and one of the top reasons for missed workdays. Thats because the lower back supports the weight of the upper body and is subject to a lot of stress and strainespecially during everyday movements like lifting and twisting.
One of two things typically causes lower back pain: a sudden injury or the wear and tear of aging, arthritis and physical activity. No matter the cause of your lower back pain, here are 10 recommendations that can help you relieve it and prevent future problems.
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Lower Back Pain Relief Through The Bridge Exercise
Whether youre suffering from chronic lower back pain or other hip dysfunctions like piriformis syndrome, the bridge is a great exercise to do.
However, I know that the bridge can also cause lower back pain in some situations.
This is why people usually do this exercise and complain it caused them lower back pain. But again, its not the exercise itself
Quickly performing the bridge exercise before preparing your body for it will cause you to compensate with your lower back.
In addition, our already established muscular and postural imbalances influence how we move, and how we exercise.
This is what we want to avoid when exercising:
- Injury
- Feeding imbalances or creating new ones
Heres what we want from exercising:
- Stabilize your joints and spine
- Building strength and stability
- Learning how to move right
- Reducing pain
- Reducing flare-ups and, ultimately, achieving balance and a pain-free state
There is no better way for me to show you how to perform the bridge exercise right than a video tutorial.
If you cant watch the video now, make sure to save this post and watch it before you do the bridge again!
Best Sleeping Position For Lower Back Pain Prevention
If you get back pain only after sleeping, the culprit might be your sleeping position. The best way to sleep with lower back pain is to sleep with your back in a neutral position. Neutral position means when your back is neither arched a lot nor is it flat. When you sleep like this- with a neutral sleeping position- it takes the pressure off your spine. Here are some sleeping positions that will not give you back pain in the morning.
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% Of People Will Experience Back Pain At Some Time But There Are Ways To Find Relief
As people enter middle age, they are more likely to experience bouts of low back pain. In fact, according to the Harvard Special Health Report Men’s Health: Fifty and Forward, back pain affects about four in five Americans at some point in their lives and equally strikes men and women.
Age is often the culprit. Over time, the bones and joints in your lower back begin to change. Your discs tend to wear out and sometimes become fragmented. These structural alterations sometimes cause pain.
Another cause of low back pain, although it occurs less often, is a herniated disc. Sometimes, a disc pushes outside the space between the bones and compresses a nerve at the point where it branches off the spinal cord. When the sciatic nerve that leads into the buttocks and leg is affected, the pain is called sciatica.
Yet, most cases of low back pain stem from strain or sprain due to simple overuse, unaccustomed activity, excessive lifting, or an accident. In most cases the best move is to wait and see if the pain resolves on its own. If the pain does not improve after three to four days, then it’s time to see a doctor.
However, depending on the source of your back pain and its severity, you might try a few home remedies for low back pain to help ease the pain until your back returns to normal. Here are several options to consider:
Complementary therapies. Several types of complementary therapy may be helpful for relief from low back pain. These include:
Massage Therapy For Low Back Pain
Studies have shown that massage treatments can help relieve chronic low back pain. Massage treatment can restore people to their usual activities of daily living and lessen pain. Massage therapy is limited, and would not be the most effective solution for patients with spinal complications, injuries, or disk problems since massage focuses on the release of muscle tension and not on the structure of the spine itself.
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Gently Stretch Your Joints And Soft Tissues Through Yoga
Yoga is an effective way to stretch your back, improve the health of muscles and joints, enhance distribution of healing nutrients through blood circulation, and increase the flexibility of the spine.12
When you start, perform the stretches slowly and advance only if you feel comfortable without pain. Gradually, you will be able to add more stretches to your routine. An ideal time for yoga is early morningto help loosen your spine and also reduce stiffness and aches in your back.
See 3 Beginner Yoga Poses for Lower Back Pain Relief
Simple Stretches To Relieve Lower Back Pain
Lower back pain can be a debilitating and painful condition.
Fortunately, staying physically active may be the most effective and cost-efficient way to soothe or prevent it.
Here are 8 simple stretches to relieve lower back pain.
3 ).
Although its origin varies, changes in the lumbar, or lower back, structure due to musculoskeletal damage are considered to be the main cause .
Your musculoskeletal system is made up of bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and other connective tissues that provide form, support, stability, and movement to your body.
Other muscles that play an important role in maintaining the normal curvature of your spinal column are reported to be associated with lower back pain. These include the hip flexor and hamstring muscles .
Minor lower back pain normally gets better on its own within a few days or weeks. It can be considered chronic when it persists for more than three months .
In either case, staying physically active and regularly stretching can help reduce lower back pain or prevent it from returning .
The remainder of this article provides eight stretches for lower back pain, all of which you can do in the comfort of your own home with minimal or no equipment.
Summary Lower back pain is an incredibly common condition that can be relieved or prevented with regular exercise and stretching.
The knee-to-chest stretch can help lengthen your lower back, relieving tension and pain.
To perform the knee-to-chest stretch:
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How To Eliminate Lower Back Pain With Three Simple Exercises
January 6, 2021 By Eileen Williams
The lower back is central to everything we do. When we bend down to pick something up, the muscles of the lower back are activated. When we walk up stairs, these same muscles act to stabilize us. Even when we are sitting, the muscles of the lower back are still acting to try to keep the spine aligned.
When the lower back is in pain, everything seems to hurt. This affects the way we move, the way we hold our bodies, the quality of our sleep, and our overall outlook on life. Several studies have found that chronic pain places an unending burden on our mental health. It can contribute to higher levels of depression, addiction, and even suicidality.
Moreover, when we are in pain much of the time, we are less likely to do the very things that make us feel better, like meeting up with friends, going for a walk in the park, going out to dinner, and enjoying a bike ride along the beach. This becomes all the more complicated when sleep quality is impacted, and we cant get the rest we need to help our backs heal.
However, lower back pain is not a life sentence. While there can be many causes from herniated disks to disk compression and malalignment of the spine with a few quick exercises, we heal our back pain. We just have to be consistent.
Learning About The Lumbar Spine
The first thing anyone should know when it comes to the lumbar spine is that the lower back where this part of your spine exists, it supports the weight of your upper body. It is also part of the spine that helps you with provided mobility as well, keeping you flexible and capable. Not only does your spine health play a role in this, but your muscles in the lower back do as well.
*All individuals are unique. Your results can and will vary.
When you have very subtle lower back pain it is usually something that is making the muscles around the lumbar spine hurt more. When this kind of injury occurs, it happens to trigger an inflammatory response that is meant to heal and help recover from the pain.
When this inflammatory response occurs, it can actually be extremely painful and cause the individual to have trouble moving because of how intense the pain levels are.
Because of how many nerves are in the lower back, it can oftentimes be too hard for the brain to actually tell what is causing the pain. This can cause random pains and aches over time, making it very difficult to be able to really tell what is causing you pain and what you should do about it to help heal it.
When a muscle is pulled or there is ligaments that are torn, they typically heal very quickly, but a torn disc will take much longer and cause much more pain and can hurt your lumbar spine as well.
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Should I See A Chiropractor For My Back Pain
Spinal manipulation is used by chiropractors and osteopathic physicians to treat low back pain in selected patients. Spinal manipulation applies hand pressure to areas of the low back to relax irritated muscle and lessen the intensity of the pain.
Traction, using pulleys and weights to lengthen and stretch the spine can result in temporary relief. Both techniques will not treat any underlying causes of back pain, but rather offer a temporary relief from lower back pain.
What Home Remedies For Lower Back Pain Actually Work
Unless youve had a major injury, such as a fall or car accident, you probably dont need to rush to the doctor for back pain. You may want to try these simple self-care strategies first.
Avoid bed rest. When lower back pain strikes, people often think complete rest will relieve back pain. However, a review of many clinical studies found that patients who retreated to bed actually experienced more pain and recovered more slowly than patients who stayed fairly active
Use ice and/or heat. Many people find that using ice or cold packs for periods of up to 20 minutes at a time helps reduce pain and swelling. Always wrap ice or a cold pack in a thin towel before putting it on your body so you dont injure your skin. You may also find that heat, such as a heating pad or warm bath, eases pain. Ice is recommended in the first 48 hours after injury then you can try a combo of ice and heat.
Try over-the-counter remedies. Short-term use of OTC pain relievers, such as the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ibuprofen and naproxen, may ease your lower back pain. Also consider OTC creams, gels, patches, or sprays applied to the skin. They stimulate the nerves in the skin to provide feelings of warmth or cold in order to dull the sensation of pain.
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What Causes Back Pain
Your spine or backbone is a complex structure that is made up of 24 small bones called vertebrae that are stacked on top of each other. Discs sit between each vertebra to act as cushions or shock absorbers and give your spine flexibility. Vertebrae are joined together by small joints called facet joints. These joints allow you to move and bend your back. A mesh of ligaments and muscles hold the spine together and provide structural support, which allows you to move.
Back pain can originate from any of these structures, but in most cases, this pain doesnt result from any significant damage to your spine. This pain usually stems from surrounding muscles, ligaments or joints and occasionally spinal disc problems.
For at least 9 in 10 people, back pain is not caused by any particular condition and is referred to as non-specific back pain.
This type of back pain results from a range of different factors such as:
- poor posture
- an unhealthy weight
Less than 1 in 100 people have back pain that is related to a serious medical problem such as cancer, infection, a spinal fracture or specific conditions such as ankylosing spondylitis. Research has also shown that you actually dont need to know the cause of back pain to treat it successfully.
