When it comes to the causes of lower back pain, one of the first things to keep in mind is that in most cases you're dealing with a fitness problem, not a medical problem.
If you've got lower back pain it's highly likely it's caused by a lack of strength and flexibility. Weak and tight muscles have allowed bones to move out of alignment, putting pressure on ligaments, tensions, muscles, discs and joints.
The medical industry writes prescriptions because it doesn't have a clue what causes lower back pain. Rarely will a doctor check to see how strong and flexible you are, test whether your body is out of alignment or prescribe a set of strength and flexibility exercises that will get you back in better alignment.
You are probably aware that back pain is not caused by a lack of Celebrex and yet for millions of people that's all they end up with after a visit to their doctor. This is junk medicine, dedicated to symptom masking not the restoration of poor function to good.
You might be given the only exercise they teach in medical school - bringing your knees up to your chest. It might provide temporary relief but won't fix the underlying causes of the problem.
You need a different technology, a fitness-based technology.
Question: what's the underlying problem?
Answer: bones that are out of alignment.
Question: what causes bones to move out of alignment?
Answer: weak and tight muscles somewhere in your body.
Question: which muscles are weak?
Answer: probably most of the muscles in your body. If you don't have a regular and systematic strength training program, gradually muscles become weaker and can't support the body in correct alignment. Certainly you need to strengthen trunk muscles - front, back and core, but your best bet is to embark on a good, general, all-round strength training program for your body - at home and at the gym.
What about tight muscles? When muscles become tight they pull bones out of alignment. That's the bad news. The good news is that once you loosen the tight muscles there's a good chance the bones will move back into alignment.
Question: which muscles need loosening off?
Answer: any muscles attached to your pelvis and lumber vertebrae, but particularly hamstring, buttock and hip flexor muscles. These are the muscles most likely to move your pelvis out of alignment. When that happens the bones above it move out of alignment. The symptom, back pain.
What you've got to do is focus on treating the underlying cause not the symptom.
The musculo-skeletal ecosystem
If you treat your body as a musculo-skeletal ecosystem and start loosening the tight muscles and strengthening the weak muscles, gradually over the days, weeks and months you'll move bones back into better alignment. As you become stronger you'll be able to support your body in better alignment.
This is the real primary health care for joint and muscle pain. Any other therapy is complementary to this process, whether it be rubbing, crunching, heating, vibrating or doping.
In a nutshell, if you start doing the strength and flexibility exercises you need to do to get your bones back in better alignment, there's a good chance your pain will go away. Doing nothing is not an option. Neither is simply masking the pain. You want to get better, not worse.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and if you're experiencing joint and muscles pain, start doing the exercises.
Regards and best wishes for a pain free life
John Miller
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