Why Pain in the Lower Back, Hips and Buttocks?

Much of the back pain people feel today can be attributed to a sedentary lifestyle. While sitting in a chair for prolonged periods of time is customary today, it is an unnatural position for the body to assume. The result is often tight lower back muscles and hamstrings, weak gluteus muscles in the buttocks, and pain throughout these areas.

If you have pain in the lower back, hips and buttocks, you may be experiencing piriformis muscle syndrome. This muscle extends horizontally from the sacrum to the thigh bone deep within the buttocks. The piriformis takes part in nearly every movement of the hips and legs; if something is amiss with one of the muscles it should be working with, then the piriformis will suffer. The tightening of the piriformis can lead to sciatic, or impingement of the sciatic nerve that runs beneath it.

Weak gluteus muscles, tight hamstring and tight lower back muscles can all help to form piriformis syndrome. One issue is compensation. Gluteus muscles are largely responsible for hip rotation. When they are too weak to perform this job, the piriformis must compensate for it. Gluteus muscles are weakened by prolonged sitting. The overuse of the piriformis caused by compensation will lead to tightness and shortening of the muscle. This can cause pain in the buttocks and hips.

Tight hamstring and lower back muscles are common symptoms of sitting for too long. The hamstrings are held in a shortened position while sitting in a chair. The pumping of fresh blood to muscles depends on a cycle of contracting and relaxing; this flushes away toxins and prevents inflammation. When a muscle is still for long, it can become tight.

Lower back muscles get tight while sitting due to overuse. The muscles of the core - in the lower back, hips, abdominals and buttocks, should work together to hold the spine erect and support the weight of the upper body. Yet while sitting, most people do not engage the abdominal muscles and the glutes are entirely inactive. This strains the lower back muscles.

Tight hamstrings and lower back muscles interfere with the work of the piriformis muscle. The body always attempts to compensate for pain; tight muscles lead to a chain reaction of postural and biomechanical adjustments designed to take the burden off tight muscles. This can, unfortunately, cause the problem to spread. The piriformis muscle can become tightened and inflamed due to lower back and hamstring tightness.

Stretches

In order to alleviate pain, it will be necessary to both loosen tight muscles and condition weak ones. The identification of which muscles to exercise and which to stretch is best conducted by a physical therapist trained to diagnose imbalances. However, if this option is unavailable to you, consider these general guidelines.

Stretching the hamstrings, lower back and piriformis are generally necessary. One of the best hamstring stretches involves putting your heel up onto a table or chair, flexing the foot and bending forward until you feel your hamstring being stretched. Switch legs and repeat.

To stretch the lower back muscles, lie flat on your back with arms outstretched and legs straight. Bring one leg up and to the opposite side of the body and lower it toward the ground. With the other leg and your shoulder flat on the ground, turn you head to the side opposite your legs. You should feel a stretch in the lower back and hip. Switch sides and repeat.

A great piriformis stretch can be done by lying on your back, bending the left knee and putting the right ankle in front of the left knee. Pull the left thigh toward your chest until you feel a stretch in the hips and buttocks. Switch legs and repeat.

You may consider the use of a foam roller to loosen the piriformis muscle.

Exercises

Balancing the core muscle group and focusing on the neglected gluteus muscles are key components of an exercise program designed to remedy piriformis syndrome. A simple routine of crunches and bridge exercises may be enough to round out the core, providing support to lower back muscles. Remember to keep the core engaged while sitting, and to change positions and stretch frequently.

A series of gluteus exercises can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y-FIzemwFs.

It is ideal to pursue an exercise program with a trained physical therapist, at least at first. This will ensure that you are practicing proper biomechanics while exercising and not exacerbating your problem.

Pain due to inactivity and muscle imbalance can be resolved by stretching and conditioning. Consider making use of a foam roller or massage therapy to accelerate loosening of muscles, and be sure you are conditioning the right ones. It will be necessary to change the bad behaviors that caused the problem in the first place, and your reward will be a pain-free core.

Lower Back Pain Relief With Aromatherapy

Each and every one of us experience pain at some point of time in our lives. It could be a pain that is temporary and go away after a while or it may be a nagging pain that keeps coming back day after day. Whatever the pain, we keep searching for ways to relieve it. There are several medications and methods that are available today which we can use to help ease pain and make it more bearable. A natural and fast-becoming-popular method is with aromatherapy. Aromatherapy is natural medicine that is concocted from plant materials that are known as eucalyptus oil. These essential oils are said to be good for a person's health and well-being. Aromatherapy is used today for various types of pain including lower back pain relief.

Use of all natural essential oils for pain relief

Although aromatherapy may not completely get rid of pain, it certainly helps make it more bearable. There are certain eucalyptus oil that are used in aromatherapy to help ease pain. Some even have antiseptic properties as well. They include eucalyptus, aloe vera, chamomile, lavender, peppermint, turmeric and more. It is important however to be as relaxed as possible when using these E oils to get the best effect from them. Eucalyptus oils are an all natural pain relief medication. Today, this type of alternate medicine has become extremely popular around the world with several health spas and centres offering aromatherapy. Eucalyptus oils can easily be bought from various stores and supermarkets

Using eucalyptus and other essential oils to relieve back pain

If sore or strained muscles cause you pain or if inflammation causes back pain, then essential oils made from eucalyptus, aloe vera and grape seed or other plant ingredients can help relieve back pain. There are essential oils with anti-inflammatory properties, local anesthetic properties, counter-irritant properties, analgesic properties and antispasmodic properties. So whatever type of pain you are experiencing, there are eucalyptus oils that can help relieve them.

Aromatherapy can ease sinus congestion

Sinus pressure is a respiratory issue that can cause congestion of the nasal passage and headaches. To help ease this pressure and congestion people are turning to aromatherapy. The essential oils used in aromatherapy help reduce the discomfort caused by sinus pressure. Essential oil such as eucalyptus, peppermint and rosemary are good for Sinus Congestion Relief. These essential oils can be used in a steam inhalation, vapouriser or in a warm bath. These soothing ways help deliver the healing properties of these eucalyptus oil. Some of these oils may even be used in their concentrated form, but it is essential to follow the 'directions for use' that are printed on the product label. Home remedies using essential oil like eucalyptus etc, can be used as sinus congestion relief for minor instances of discomfort, but should not replace professional consultation and care, as respiratory diseases can be serious and sometimes life-threatening.

What Causes Lower Back Pain When You Wake Up in the Morning?

As a chiropractor, I get asked this question a lot, from people in their sixties and also from people in their twenties and thirties. Usually the symptoms are described as severe soreness and stiffness during the night while sleeping and/or when first getting up in the morning. For most people, the lower back pain and discomfort tends to ease up after thirty minutes to an hour after waking up.

So what is happening? Most doctors will just tell you that you have arthritis. While this may be possible, it is not exactly true. Arthritis is not a disease, but rather a process that can happen to a person's joints, were the movement of the joints slowly decreases over time and allows stiffness and discomfort to set in. So, typically what has happened to someone who experiences pain at night while sleeping or stiffness in the morning upon waking up, is that the joints have stiffened up due to injury, lack of use, or chronic problems. Just like all the other tissues in our body, the joints need a constant supply of fresh nutrients and constant removal of waste products in order to stay healthy.

Unlike muscles, which have a blood supply to bring fresh nutrients in and take away waste products, the joints rely on movement. The movement of our joints acts as sort of a pump that is constantly exchanging fluid with the tissues around them. This allows for the delivery of fresh nutrients that can rejuvenate and repair joints as well as the removal of harmful waste products such as lactic acid. Through either acute injuries or chronic progressive miss-use, our joints tend to lose their normal movement, which allows for joint breakdown to occur, resulting in pain. The pain is usually worse at night or in the morning because a person has been very still for a prolonged period, resulting in more build up of harmful wastes. After moving around, the extra movement helps remove some of the waste and the joints begin to feel better, at least until the next morning.

Getting adjusted by a Chiropractor can help relieve this type of pain and discomfort as well as help restore the normal movement of the joints to prevent further occurrences.

Can Pilates Really Help Lower Back Pain?

A significant number of my clients come in with lower back pain. For most, the pain crept up on them. They started feeling it after a long stressful day at work or when they've been cooped up in a plane or car for several hours. The unfortunate thing is, if not addressed, the pain can linger and become chronic. They are looking for relief. I tell them, "You've come to the right place!"

Fortunately, Pilates is a great way to recover from your chronic pain. Pilates can decompress your spine and get you back into alignment. Sitting bent over a computer is a daily occurrence for most of us. Our bodies grow accustomed to this crouched position, and if not balanced with awareness and elongation... it can start to be second nature. This causes constant, unnecessary pressure on our bodies. Secretly, our bodies yearn for that extra stretch and opportunity to oxygenate.

With Pilates you can find that stretch, that elongation, and in addition you'll get to strengthen your "core" (deep abdominals) and many other muscle groups, as well as access tangible assistance from the support of breathing with awareness. These are just a few of the key components that will guide you back to living pain-free.

Here's an example: The back of the leg is just as important as the front. Many mainstream workouts focus on quadriceps (front of thighs) strength without sufficient focus on the hamstrings (back of thighs). When we overuse our quadriceps to the point of over-activating our hip flexors (crucial muscles around the hip joint), this torques the pelvis and leaves the hamstrings unengaged. Consequently, the rest of our lower body strength becomes compromised, throwing our whole alignment off and causing uneven weight bearing. The hamstrings and whole 'back line', usually very tight and hard to access, are neglected, and this furthers the vicious spiral into imbalance.

How we carry ourselves in relationship to gravity is essential and can be very revealing. Do you hunch forward and slouch? Or tuck your tailbone while standing? When walking do you keep your attention toward the floor? All these are indications about how we are compromising our deepest support. A shift happens when you engage more of the 'back line' and lift your waist and ribs up out of your hips while simultaneously staying connected to your feet, thus activating and strengthening a whole new set of muscles that are usually overlooked.

With the help of equipment such as the Pilates reformer, cadillac, and wunda chair, there is an opportunity to access this muscle group with simultaneous support from the rest of your body - hence allowing for a full body workout where everything is active and engaged with balance and breadth.

With Pilates you can go from the stress of what's become second nature into the support of first nature: longer, leaner muscles, decompression of the spine, and the grace of proper alignment. You are capable of attaining this and much more with a steady practice of Pilates. Chronic pain and lower back stress do not have to be a way of life!

What's Causing Your Aching Lower Back?

The human spine is as unique to our species as the opposable thumb and the highly developed cerebral cortex. But the spine is only part of the back - our backs also contain a network of muscles and nerves (which aren't housed inside the spinal cord), and our kidneys are located more towards the back than the front. We aren't surprised when we get aches and pains in other muscles and joints that are in constant use, so why should we be surprised when we suffer pains in our backs.

Back pain can be roughly divided into two types: upper back pain and lower back pain. The upper back is the area from the base of the neck and the top of the shoulders down to just below the bottom of the ribs where the spine starts to curve in. Upper back pain has three main causes:

Tension. We talk about stress making us feel up tight - with good reason! Stress seems to make humans tense up around the shoulder and neck area, making them ache. This tension often seems to spread up the neck and even into the scalp.

Poor posture. Bending over or slouching for a long period of time so the top of the back is arched makes the upper back ache.

Muscle strain. Putting the muscles of the shoulder and upper back under unaccustomed strain makes them ache. This is probably the least common cause of upper back pain.

Lower back pain is more complicated and has more causes. It is also more common, mainly because the lower back is home to the "lumbar plexus", which is a "hub" for a number of major nerves spreading down into the hips and legs. Aches and pains in this part of the back can be caused by any of the following:

Poor posture (again). Standing and especially sitting with bad posture puts excessive strain on the lower back and makes it hurt. The curve of your lower back (known as the "lumbar lordosis" should be supported. The answer is not, as many believe, to make this part of the back straight. The aim here is the golden mean - neither having a perfectly straight spine nor an excessive curve.

Weak lower back muscles. If your lower back muscles (part of the group known as the "core muscle group") are weakened through lack of use, they tire easily and fail to keep our spines in the right place. Exercises to strengthen the lower back often help to treat this form of lower back pain.

Poor lifting technique. This is the most common cause of what's known as "putting your back out". Often, it's not a single instance of lifting one heavy thing that puts your back out. Usually, it's constant bad lifting that does the damage. For example, someone can spend most of the day lifting, say, house plants or crates with little more than a twinge of pain in the lower back - but at the end of the day, they try to pick up a cat using bad technique (again) and there goes their back! It's a case of the old saying "it's the last straw that broke the camel's back" - almost literally.

Obesity. Carrying too much weight on the abdomen puts extra stress on the lumbar lordosis - gravity is acting on all the excess fat, pulling it forward and down.

Pregnancy: The frontal position of the growing baby, plus all the amniotic fluid, etc. in the womb and abdomen pull forwards and down, putting stress on the lower back. A common home remedy for this type of lumbar pain is to sit backwards on a chair, leaning on the back of the chair and sitting astride it.

Urinary tract infections. Because the kidneys and the tubes leading from them to the bladder are located closer to our backs than to our fronts, infections in the urinary tract are often felt as sharp pain located below the ribcage between the spine and the side of the back on either (or both) side(s). The best way to treat this is with a course of antibiotics.

Once you are aware of the causes of back pain, it's easy to find the best way to treat it. For example, for upper back pain caused by tension, the best way to treat it is with massage.

Back Pain Cause

Nine times out of ten people diagnosing the cause of lower back pain miss the point.

People with lower back pain will be told that the cause of the pain is a herniated disc. Of course that may be right, but the question, 'What's the cause of the herniated disc?' is rarely contemplated. The diagnosis is therefore inadequate. In fact it's well nigh useless.

And if the diagnosis is useless then so is the treatment. Would you put your car in the hands of a mechanic who didn't know the cause of problem? Of course not. So why put your body in the hands of a therapist who didn't know the cause of the problem? You're wasting your money.

The ultimate cause of most herniated discs is tight calf, hamstring and buttock muscles that drag the pelvis out of alignment. It gets tilted back, rotated around and one side will become lower than the other.

The problem is exacerbated by weak trunk muscles - front, back and core. (In fact strong trunk muscles may well save you from lower back problems by acting like a corset to support the bones of the back in their misaligned state; but tight calf, hamstring and buttock muscles continue their persistent march toward dysfunction.)

Once the pelvis moves out of alignment, the bones above it get taken out of alignment, putting pressure on muscles, tendons, ligaments and discs.

Gradually over the weeks, months, years and decades the nucleus of the disc gets squeezed out. You don't know this is happening. In fact you could be 99% of the way to having a herniated disc and think your back is in great shape.

Then one day you swivel around to pick up a phone book, or put a bag of fertilizer into the trunk of your car and BAMMO, you've got a herniated disc. The immediate incident gets the blame. If it happens at work, work will get the blame and the full responsibility for fixing you up. Hello!

With a badly herniated disc you can't sneeze or cough it hurts so much. You can't put on your socks, you can't bend over the basin to brush your teeth.

In a vapid and useless explanation, your doctor will tell you your back pain is caused by your herniated disc. Your radiologist will give you no advice whatever as to the cause. They aren't allowed an opinion as to causation. Their job starts and finishes with a description of what they see on the X-ray.

WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON

You can read all about what's really going on at the Global Back Care and Egoscue websites.

You won't get much solace from the orthopods, chiros and physios. They get side-tracked by the pain; they continue to look at and rub, crunch, shock and heat up the point where it hurts - rather than teaching you to loosen the tight muscles that have caused the problem in the first place.

Two key principles:

1. Bones do what muscles tell them to do. This knocks chiropractic into a cocked hat. The physios aren't looking too good either. They'll go for the quick fix; they'll go for the palliative palpitation, then stick you in a room with ten other people and hook you up to a machine.

The long term fix is a strength and flexibility training program, though, to be fair, even in the acute phase, a few hours doing some simple stretches will relieve a lot of pain.

Any therapist that doesn't send you away having taught you a dozen or so key strength and flexibility exercises is falling down on the job. They want you to come back.

2. The cause of the pain is rarely at the site of the pain.

So there you have it. Don't ask what your therapist can do for you, ask what you can do for yourself. You can't subcontract out your own strength and flexibility training program.

You don't have to spend a fortune at the therapists, just an hour or two each night for a couple of months, doing the exercises in front of TV.

John Miller

Cure Lower Back Pain Through Exercises

Lower back exercises may help if you have acute pain in the lower back, whatever the cause. If you have consulted a doctor or physiotherapist, you may have been given instructions about exercising your back, and you should follow this advice. You should begin the exercises about a day after the pain first started, but stop immediately if the pain is increased or spreads away from your spine.

One common lower back exercise that can relieve most types of acute back pain is the pelvic tilt. It relieves pressure on the facet joints and gently stretches the muscles and ligaments of the back. It may stimulate the local blood circulation and undoubtedly strengthens the abdominal muscles, which indirectly support the spine. If practiced regularly, it encourages better posture, which will help to prevent back pain.

To cure back pain brought about by long periods of sitting, you can use passive extension exercises. Try it only if you can lie face down without increasing your pain. If you have sciatic pain, which is made worse by it, you should avoid this exercise.

Low back stretch is a very useful exercise if you have strained or dislodged a facet joint in your lower back and the surrounding muscles are tight and aching. It may also help if you are suffering from a recurrence of inflammation in worn facet joints, and it can improve flexibility if you have become stiff after an episode of acute lower back pain. However, you should not try this form of exercise if your back pain is caused by a disc protrusion, as it will only make it worse.

Another form of exercise that you may use to cure your lower back pain is standing extension. By doing this, it will gently arches your lower back and it should be performed every couple of hours throughout the day. The exercise is very simple: first, stand up straight with your feet pointing directly forwards, about a shoulder width apart and place your hands on the small of your back and breathe in deeply. Breathe out slowly. As you do so, bend backwards, supporting your back with your hands, so that your back is arched. You can then repeat the same steps for ten times.

By regularly performing these exercises, you should be able to cure the lower back pain, or at least, help to strength your back muscles.

Lower Back Pain

When it comes to lower back pain there's a trap for young players and it is that with lower back pain you've got to keep in mind that the cause of the pain is probably not at the site of the pain.

Most people just want to stretch and heat up the spot where it hurts. If they can get someone else to rub it, then so much the better.

Most likely your doctor will only recommend one stretch; lie on your bed and bring your knees up to your chest. This is a useful exercise and may bring some pain relief, but it doesn't do much for the muscles that are contributing more to your back pain than tight back muscles.

A lot of therapists will give out exercises to stretch back muscles - like doing the cat and dog exercise. These are useful exercises but still don't get to the cause of the problem. The therapist will also want to give you the heat treatment and a rub down but doing that at the spot where it hurts doesn't get to the cause of the problem either. You just come away with a warm feeling under your singlet.

If you've got lower back pain you've got to start doing back pain stretches that loosen off your hamstring and buttock muscles. When these muscles get tight they tilt the pelvis back, turning the natural 'S' shaped curve of the spine into a C' shape. You sit at your desk in the slump dog position. You can't sit up straight when sitting on the floor.

Coupled with that it's frequently the case that muscles on one side are tighter than those on the other side, so the pelvis rotates as well.

The effect of this misalignment of the pelvis is to take the bones of the spinal column out of alignment too. When this happens, muscles, tendons and ligaments in your back are stretched beyond their pain threshold.

The vertebrae start to rub on each other producing bone inflammation - arthritis. The nucleus of the disc gets squeezed out. It may even herniate. If that happens, every time you sneeze and cough it feels someone is ramming a red hot poker into your back.

The X-ray will tell you what's happened, but it won't tell you what's caused what's happened. You can draw cold comfort from the recommendations of the experts. They think back pain happens out of the blue, or by lifting the shopping onto the back seat of your car.

At work they'll say the chair did it.

What you've got is a personally-generated, lifestyle related musculo-skeletal dysfunction caused by weak and tight muscles. You don't get that from the chair or the groceries.

You need both a general and a specific strength and flexibility training program.

As far as back pain stretches go you've got to loosen off hamstring and buttock muscles, in fact all the muscles that tilt and rotate your pelvis. Square up your pelvis and the bones above it will start to go back into alignment. The pain will go away.

There are three key lower back stretches that I recommend. If you click on the Lower Back Stretches tag at the Global Back Care website you can get the free eBook in which these exercises are outlined. Of course there are a lot more than three that I'd advise you to do, but these are must-do exercises.

Start doing them while watching TV. You could get some relief in a few days. Based on my experience there's a good chance that if you have a systematic lower back stretching program you could be feeling one heck of a lot better within 6 - 8 weeks.

But it all stands to reason. Treat the cause of the problem and the pain will take care of itself.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and remember, it's a big ask expecting to get better by having someone do something to you; sooner or later you have to do something to yourself.

John Miller

How to Prevent Bad Back Pain

In order to understand how to prevent bad back pain, you must first know and understand what is causing it. The majority of back pain that many experience, is normally associated with an underlying problem with the sciatic nerve. However, there are some cases that are caused by over worked or sore muscles.

Since the majority of cases are due to sciatic nerve problems, here are some things to avoid, to prevent bad back pain.

1. Avoid carrying or lifting with your arms extended outward and in front of you away from the body.


2. When you are standing or sitting, avoid bending at the waist.


3. If possible avoid sitting for prolonged periods, if it is not possible, refrain from slouching.


4. Avoid lifting objects too heavy for you.


5. Avoid twisting repeatedly, or twisting repeatedly while holding a heavy object.


6. Weight lifting improperly such as, trying to jerk the weights up because they are too heavy for you.

Most problems with the sciatic nerve occur from improper lifting of heavy objects or twisting at the waist. When lifting heavy objects lift with the legs, do not use your back to lift. When twisting at the waist, whether standing or sitting, do it slowly, do not jerk the upper body around quickly.

Sitting for long periods can cause spinal decompression especially when you are sitting in a position where you are slouching or in some other improper position that causes the spine to arch forward. If you need to sit for extended periods, use some type of lumbar support pillow or cushion on your chair this can help keep you from slouching.

Exercise, ones designed to backward extend the spine, can help keep the discs and vertebrae in the lower spinal column in alignment. These are simple backward stretches done on a medicine ball, and believe it or not, if you are already experiencing bad back pain due to an underlying problem with the sciatic nerve, these stretches can help alleviate the pain.

If you are already a sufferer of sciatica or have problems with the discs in the lower back then, you should avoid high impact activities. Some of these activities would include, running, jogging, jumping, driving off the road, (mountain bike, dirt bike and atv's as well as any four-wheel drive vehicle) contact sports, winter-sports such as, skiing or sledding on uneven terrain, water sports such as, boating, water skiing, or jet skis in choppy waters.

High impact activities like the ones mentioned above, contribute to spinal decompression, and if you are already suffering from spinal decompression, you can make it more severe thus causing even more severe pain. If you suffer from, herniated discs, then these high impact activities can damage the discs further, and once again, worsen the pain you feel.

Statistics show that only about one in one hundred actually benefit from surgical procedures to repair damage to discs that are causing sciatic nerve pain, and also show that there is a chance that surgical procedures can also worsen the condition instead of helping it. So, all other avenues of treatment should be pursued before considering surgical procedures to correct lower back pain.

Causes of Low Back Pain - 4 Main Causes Towards The Pain in The Back

Causes of low back pain are under the influence of so many factors such as improper posture, overworked muscles, muscle strain and accident. However, it should also be noted that risk factors can attribute to pain occurrence. Risk factors include aging, size and shape of the spine, smoking, long driving, stress, and exhausting physical labor in work.

Low back pain is truly common, when you have one; rest assured you are not alone. Almost everyone has it because it is the most common back disorder experienced at school, work and even at home.

Pain in the back accounts for more disability if left untreated comparing to other medical conditions. The pain can vary from mild to severe, and it will interfere with your work and activities at home and daily living.

If you want this to prevent from causing your life to be unproductive, it is important to know different factors that trigger the pain occurrence.

Causes of low back pain are categorized as mechanical, physical, neurological, biomechanical and psychological.

1) Mechanical Causes: This is brought about by the spine's position and functional abnormalities.

- Muscle Strain

Muscle strain happens when muscles are forced, shocked, overstretched, overworked and tightened forcefully. This usually happens when your body is still unadjusted yet you engaged it to rigid exercises without enough stretching. It also happens when you have laborious works, requiring long periods of standing and sitting.

- Osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis is a common condition among aging. When one ages, the bone joints are degenerating in function. The bone will become tender and stiff thus causing pain in the lower back. The lower back is usually affected as this condition can make walking a hardest thing to do, so the person slouches affecting the lower back again.???

- Narrowing of the spine

This is a condition of the spine wherein the spinal canal compressed the nerves. It is also associated with aging as the spine will degenerate in function thereby causing pain in the lower back.

2) Physical Causes: This is affecting the body as a whole.

- Cancer

Cancer can be one of the contributory factors for back problems. This usually happens on the later stage as spreading of cancer cells can happen. As the cells spread, they can invade the spine's normal tissues and cells. As this happens, the spine will lose its function and an intense pain on the back will be felt.

- Infections

Infection can be a cause because of the bacterial invasion directly into the spine during an operation. As this can penetrate into the spine, pain in the lower part of the back is also felt. Usually, strong anti bacterial drugs is the best treatment for this so prevent further damage causing inflammation, and will cause severity of the area.

- Neurological Disorders

Back Pain pinched nerve is the most common neurological disorder. The nerve is responsible for carrying information from the brain to the rest of the body to cause certain movement or action. When the nerve is compressed, it will no longer take its function well, and the spine will also be affected causing low back pain on the area that radiates down to the legs. Muscle spasm can also be felt during a pinched nerve.

3) Biomechanical Causes: This is the most common causes of low back pain. This is very common among many and it is related to poor posture with protruding buttocks and abdomen, over arching of the back and head is overly forwarded in an exaggerated position. These poor postures can lead to chronic back pain causing wear and tear of the spine.

4) Psychological Causes: According to research, it has been known that psychological cases like these are strongly associated with back pain. This is commonly called as "stress-related back pain". Although this is not common, those people who are emotionally stress believes that back pain is the direct result of their emotions. examples are seen below.

- Depression

- Anxiety

- Anger

- Stress

- Lack of effective coping skills

- Person's belief to control pain

Chronic Low Back Pain - Check the Sacroiliac Joint

Sacroiliac pain is a 'hidden' pain in the respect that most doctors have no idea that such severe pain can be caused by this joint. The sacroiliac (or S-I joint) is where the sacrum (a triangular shaped bone located below your lumbar spine) and the ilium connect together. This S-I joint area, along with the ankle are the two exposed areas of the body that get a poor muscular supply to stabilize the bones. Because of this this joint can become very unstable causing not only lower back pain but radiating pain that can go into the buttocks, leg, hip and groin.

Most doctors are clueless when it comes to proper diagnosis and treatment of this condition. It is estimated that 30% of the general population will experience low back pain because their sacroiliac joints have been injured or misaligned. It can start with poor posture, a slip and fall, playing sports, car accident, or other types of trauma.

The S-I joint is quite a movable joint which can break down over time when the muscles begin to weaken and shorten. When muscles weaken they lose their ability to absorb force. When this happens that force will go into the S-I joint area which isn't designed to absorb any force. When this occurs, inflammation begins which in turns sends a signal up to the brain to warn of damage which is interpreted as pain. The body is always trying to protect you so it doesn't want you to continue to produce damage to that area so that is why the pain sensation is produces... to stop you from moving.

There is new treatment that can limit the amount of pain that you experience when this condition begins. Traditional therapy treatment consists of massage, ultrasound and other traditional type of treatment. New treatment goes beyond the limiting treatment because there is new research that shows pain relief faster. As well as research to structurally strengthen the joint to ensure stability to prevent future breakdown. A combination of manual and new bio-electric stimulation. This technique can actually find where the breakdown originally occurred.

When you have pain in the lower back particularly due to S-I pain, the bread down occurred somewhere else and where you feel the pain is where the damage ended. By finding the exact origin of the damage you can quickly reduce the pain and begin healing faster than ever thought. Most patients end up with increased painless range of motion in the first one to two treatments which allows for them to avoid any type of needless surgery.

How Ovulation Causes Back Pain

Lower back pain during ovulation normally begins in the lower abdomen. Doctors refer to it as "Mitelschmerz" meaning middle pain in German. This type of pain starts 14 days before menstruation occurs around the time the egg is released from the ovaries. Though this is rarely serious, it is bothersome with 20 percent of the female population experiencing this discomfort monthly.

There is normally no need to undergo invasive treatments for Mitelschmerz. There are home remedies available to relieve the discomfort brought about by this condition that plagues some women every month.

1. Drink lots of water. Women experience more intense pain brought about my Mitelshmerz if their body lacks fluids. If a woman is dehydrated, abdominal cramping increases, which consequently makes their lower back discomfort more painful. Young kids have been told early on in their education about the importance of staying hydrated. It is best to take at least 8 glasses of water or other drinks a day.

2. Taking birth control pills eases severe symptoms of Mitelschmerz. If a woman's lower back pain is extremely painful every month, she may want to consult her doctor about it. Birth control pills can help relieve the pain since it prevents women from ovulating in the first place. Pain medications such as ibuprofen, aspirin, acetaminophen and naproxen can also help get rid of the symptoms of Mitelschmerz.

3. For those who refuse to take medications for fear of its side effects, applying heat effectively alleviates the pain by loosening up the tense muscles. Employing heat in the abdomen, pelvic region and the lower back increases the blood flow to lessen the discomfort. There are Far Infrared Ray (FIR) heat wraps available online. These are better than traditional heat pads because FIR penetrates deeper into the body than regular heat, optimizing the benefits of heat therapy. They also stay in place with the use of a Velcro lock so movement is not hampered, making it extremely easy and convenient to use.

There is no need to suffer from pain brought about by Mitelschmerz monthly. There are simple ways to get rid of the pain for women experiencing this discomfort before menstruation.

What Causes Pain in Lower Left Side of the Back?

Many people in this country suffer from pain in lower left side of back.

Because the pain is only on one side of the back, many doctors have trouble finding the actual cause. Many people go through years of endless visits to the doctor and the hospital, expensive rounds of testing, dangerous drugs, and treatments that do nothing to cure the problem.

However, if you know the true causes of pain in lower left side of back, you can avoid going through these trials by choosing a treatment that addresses the true root of your spinal problems.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Other Intestinal Problems

Pain in left lower side of back may be caused by problems with your gastrointestinal system, including sensitivities to certain foods or other bowel problems.

If your pain only occurs after eating certain foods and is accompanied by other symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting, this inflammation may be the cause of your problems. However, there are other causes of bowel problems. Many people have intestinal problems accompanied by pain in left lower side of back because of a muscle imbalance. If this is the case, these problems can be resolved by muscle balance therapy.

Kidney Stones

It is easy to tell if the pain in lower left side of back is caused by this common problem. Usually, the pain will be accompanied by other symptoms such as problems urinating and blood in the urine. Luckily, most doctors test for this problem routinely through urinalysis, and it also shows up during MRI's and other imaging techniques.

Lower Back Problems

This is the most common cause of pain in lower left side of back. These back problems may range from misalignment, a herniated disc, or any other several different disorders. Regardless of the exact diagnosis, the cause is usually the same: a muscle imbalance. Just as a muscle imbalance can cause gastrointestinal problems, it can also cause spinal problems. When you treat this muscle imbalance, you will be eliminating the cause of pain in lower left side of back and therefore getting rid of the pain itself.

Muscle Imbalances

Many people misunderstand the role of muscles in the human body. They do not just aid in movement; they also provide a vital support for organs and bones. If your muscles are out of balance, even slightly, this will cause any number of physiological problems, all of which can then cause lower left back pain. Doctors tend to treat this pain with drugs, surgeries, and therapies that work with the back itself. Only by curing the muscle imbalance you can rid yourself of pain in lower left side of back for good.

Curing Muscle Imbalance

Luckily, a muscle imbalance can be treated with a simple, inexpensive, and flexible treatment, freeing you forever of all of these painful symptoms, including pain in lower left side of back. This treatment, called muscle balance therapy, is offered by a program known as "Lose the Back Pain", which will help you determine the muscle imbalance causing your pain and treat it in a customizable program that you can do in the privacy of your own home. If you have pain in lower left side of back, you owe it to yourself and your family to reclaim your healthy, active, pain-free life by trying this innovative, effective, and affordable program.

The Connection Between Lower Back Pain and Lack of Sleep

Millions of people suffer with lower back pain. In fact, it's one of the leading reasons why many men and women call in sick to work. There are lots of things that can make your back hurt. Injuries, diseases, herniated disc and stress are at the top of the list of causes but lack of sleep may also be a factor. Most everyone knows that lack of sleep can cause fatigue and irritability but they don't know just how serious not getting enough sleep can be.

Did you know that if you went several days with no sleep at all that you'll begin to hallucinate and it would be impossible to function properly? Of course, it would be very rare for a person to go several consecutive days without any sleep but many people do make a habit of not getting enough sleep each night and this can take its toll on you as well.

After going a day or two with very little sleep, you'll begin to feel tired, become cranky and you may find it difficult to concentrate. The longer you go without the proper amount of sleep, the worse these symptoms become. For example, instead of being cranky, you may find yourself getting angry for no apparent reason or over little things that don't really even matter.

Instead of feeling tired, you may find yourself falling asleep in the middle of the day when you're at work or when driving. You won't be as coordination as you should be. Your ability to focus and concentrate can completely fade away if you go for a long period without getting enough sleep. Over time, your personality can even change and your immune system can be compromised.

Why Does Lack of Sleep Cause so Many Problems?

There is still much to learn about the importance of sleep but it is known that if you don't get enough sleep, it can cause a lot of health problems. Your body needs sleep to rejuvenate. This is when it heals sore muscles and repairs damaged tissues. Sleeping restores energy and so much more.

When you don't get enough sleep, your immune system has to work harder to try and compensate to keep your body functioning correctly. Before long, it starts to give out and you can get sick easier. Many people tend to overeat because they think they're hungry when in reality, they're just tired. Your body just can't function properly when you don't get at least eight hours of sleep a night and the longer you go without sleeping, the worse it will get.

How Does Lack of Sleep Affect Lower Back Pain?

Lack of sleep and lower back pain are connected. When you don't get enough sleep, your body begins to respond in a negative way and eventually you'll become anxious and depressed. Anxiety and depression are two of the main things that create stress in a person's life and stress can cause lower back pain. Therefore, lack of sleep can cause this type of pain in an indirect way.

It can also make your muscles weaker and you less aware of your surroundings. As a result, you're more careless when lifting and doing other activities, which can lead to injuries that can affect the lower back. It also makes it harder for your body to recover from injuries. The connection between lower back pain and lack of sleep is real and you may even be able to reduce or eliminate the pain you feel simply by getting more sleep each night.

Pinched Nerve Treatment - Tips to Get Rid of Pinched Nerve Pain

Are you having problems with your back? Why does back pain occur after you have slept and awkwardly positioned in bed? Pinched nerve in the back is the experience you have when your back aches and it normally happens for those who have a past history of sports injury or car collision.

What is pinched nerve?

It is a medical term for a compressed nerve. It causes a lot of bodily destruction because when nerves are pressed, it can no longer send messages throughout the body properly. Both sensory and motor deficiency can happen.

Back pain is a motor deficiency that is caused when a pressure is directly applied to a muscle, cartilage, tissue and bone. Thus, this results to the interruption of the person's normal body functioning. Irritation of the bones, tissues, cartilages and muscles may also cause this common problem.

Signs and Symptoms

Pain in the back is commonly manifested by a pain that usually originates at the lower part of the back that radiates down to the legs, this phenomenon is also coined as a referred pain. It can also be manifested by numbness, spastic back muscles that is usually painful, tingling and hot or cold sensations at the back.

Pinched nerve pain can be cured within 2 to 4 weeks as researchers say. But, what can we do to relieve ourselves from this kind of pain that usually affect our activities of daily living? Can we have practical ways of treating this kind of disorder? Or we should mainly focus on the proven medical interventions that are suggested to treat the pinched nerve? Well, enough worrying about such dilemma, all interventions may it be medical or practical interventions are on hand. Here are some list of tips and instruction to get rid or to manage the pain in the back:

Non-pharmacologic Interventions:

Give enough rest to your back. Take a warm or hot shower to relax muscle spasms.

Alternate hot and cold compress. Sometimes ice will work better than heat; at other times, a heating pad will do a better job of relieving pain. Do experiment to determine boldly your preference and what is more effective for you.

Refrain from straining your muscles by carrying heavy objects. Avoid activities specifically sports that cause you to make sudden jarring motions, like football, basketball, volleyball, etc.

Massage the area that is aching. Back rubs are usually therapeutic and relieves pain even better.

Eat foods rich in fiber because it is easily digested. This would aid bowel movement that lessens straining. Straining to defecate may cause stress to the body including your back.

Try to incorporate various relaxation techniques such as deep breathing exercises, imagery and focusing, using scents and fragrance, back rubs, and music therapy. This would aid in redirecting your attention from pain and may make your mind and body calm and comfortable.

Do general range of motion exercises and stretches as tolerated.

Pharmacologic and Medical Interventions:

Visit your family doctor, chiropractor, or neurologist for comprehensive and appropriate medical advices.

Do physiotherapy to strengthen muscles as well reduce the signs and symptoms of the back pain.

Take medications per physician's advice. Medications usually include cortisone injections and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs depending on the severity and quality of the pain felt. Cortisone and NSAID's (Non-Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs) as a treatment does not only provide relief from pain but also treat inflammations of the nerves being pinched or constricted. Examples of cortisones include Celestones, Kenalog and other steroid preparation. On the other hand, Aspirin and Ibuprofen are good examples of Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Surgery is a great last resort to decrease the building pressures caused to a nerve, thus resolving the signs and symptoms of the pain.

With the today's trends and technology, problems such as pinched nerve pain the back need no worries at all. As you can see, there are a lot of interventions being prepared for you to use and relieve your selves from an aching back caused by a pinched nerve. All you have to do is to decide which you prefer or which you think is best. Just remember to be more responsible in choosing different interventions and it is still best to seek medical attention for a proper and appropriate management. Worry less and be happy! Let's all say goodbye to pain.

You Woke Up With a Sore Lower Back - Why? Because of the Increased Pressure in the Discs At Night

A significant number of people have the experience of going to bed every night with a normal back and waking up in the morning with a sore one. Why is that? Why is morning low back soreness so common, and what causes it? As will be discussed in this article, the phenomenon is not that rare, and is caused by changes in the spine and the discs overnight.

When people go to bed, their spines actually increase in length. This is a result of the pressure in the discs in between the vertebrae changing. In fact, one study done in 1984 showed that people's sitting height can dramatically decrease throughout the day -- up to 19 millimeters in some cases. This is due to the discs losing some of the fluid that built up during sleep.

A spine that has spent the night horizontal and building up fluid is a spine that has lost some of its flexibility, as well. This is why people may wake up and feel that their lower back is sore and they just feel "stiff" upon rising from bed. Especially the ability to bend forward and flex the spine can be compromised after a night of sleep. The discs have expanded during the course of the night, built up fluid, and the spine has become more resistant to such bending.

The good news is that this soreness does not usually last all day, and there are actions that people can take to reduce their low back soreness in the morning. In fact, due to the changes in the disc pressure during the night, it is quite important for some people who are especially at risk of injuring or re-injuring their backs to take precautions in the morning to ensure their spinal health throughout the day.

The most important action to take is to avoid much forward bending for the first hour upon waking. The discs of the spine will lose about 90% of the pressure and extra height they have gained during the night in the first hour after getting out of bed. Because of the increased pressure during this first hour, though, doing any kind of spinal flexing or exercises that involve the back may be best avoided until later in the day.

People who are currently suffering from a back injury or who are in physical therapy for rehabilitation of an injury are frequently prescribed various spine exercises. While these can help with the healing process, if they involve a lot of flexing or extension of the spine, it may be best not to do these right after getting up. Exercises to increase stability and muscle endurance can help, but not if they exacerbate symptoms in the mornings.

Finally, the best advice may just be to stay aware that the spine increases in length during the night and the discs increase in pressure. But after the first hour or two after rising, most people's sore backs may begin to feel normal again. It is most important not to round the back or flex too much in morning, as just this simple avoidance of full flexion can help reduce the pain of a sore lower back.

How to Get Relief From Lower Back Pain Caused by Muscle Spasms

Muscle spasms have been one of the most common causes of lower back pain. Though the medical world is still not sure what exactly causes spasms, but as per the recent research and studies, some of the possible factors that may lead to muscle spasms include stretching too much, carrying a heavy object improperly, and mental stress. Back spasms are usually more common in those who live sedentary lifestyles. There are certain symptoms that may indicate that the pain in your lower back has actually been caused by spasms. Some of these symptoms include sharp shooting pains and inability to bend in certain directions. Following tips and suggestions can be very helpful in treating such condition.

Consult Your Doctor
The first step in treating such lower back pain problems is to consult your doctor immediately after you notice frequent occurrences of spasms, such as more than once every month. You are strongly recommended not to overlook such problems because if the spasms are seemingly occurring without any specific reason it may indicate a more severe underlying condition.

Maintain An Up-Right Position
People with such conditions often have the temptation to lie on their back, but if you want to get relief, you must try to maintain an upright position. It is very important for you to understand that the spasms may last much longer if you lie still most of the times - it only intensifies the pain.

Gentle Movement
If you want to make the spasms subside, you should try to keep your movements gentle. For example, if bending or twisting results in sharp lower back pain, you should avoid turning too much - walk as straight as you can. Likewise, if spasms hit while you are lying on your back, you should first roll on your side and then prop you up to get off the bed using your arms. Walk slowly and straight if the spasms hit while in standing position.

Choose Your Activities Carefully
You are also advised not to indulge in activities that may make your back tense up. For example, you should avoid activities like picking something up by bending down or sucking in your stomach. If you really have to pick something up, the best way is to spread your legs and then squat to reach down while keeping the back straight.

Sitting For Long Hours
If you have to sit for long hours while you work, using a stability ball as your chair can be a great idea to relieve lower back pain caused by muscle spasms. You should sit on the chair with your legs spread.

Overall, if you follow the above tips thoroughly, you can easily get relief in your lower back pain.

Ten Tips to Ease Low Back Pain

Working days lost in the US alone due to back pain runs into hundreds of millions.

Our back is highly complex mechanism and even with the use of modern technology pin pointing the exact cause of low back problems can be difficult and challenging. At the center of our back is the spine, with a sophisticated inter linking of vertebrae and various bones. The spinal column itself is supported by a complex array of muscles and ligaments. Many back problems occur as a result of some change in the spinal column. These changes often happen after an injury to the neck or back. Any shift in our spinal column alignment causes the muscles tighten up and go into spasm, making the muscle work continuously, (nature's protection mechanism).

Most people will have at least one backache during their lives, and many will live with recurrent or prolonged back problems. While discomfort can affect any area of the back, pain mostly occurs in the lower part, which supports most of the body's weight. Indeed, low back pain is among the most common reasons why Americans visit the doctor. Some people have backaches that cause significant disability, with pain or numbness radiating down the leg or into the foot - a condition known as sciatica.

Taking off the shelf pain killers such as ibuprofen or aspirin often helps to reduce the inflammation and bring some sort of relief; however for people who suffer from chronic back pain they seldom bring much relief. Whether you are a newcomer to back pain or a long term sufferer, here are ten tips to ease your back pain.

1. If you are in extreme pain try lying on your back, on the floor, with your feet and lower legs over a chair. Support your head under a pillow. Try to relax as much as possible.

2. Consider doing some simple stretches to improve your overall flexibility and help relax those over tight muscles. Your healthcare practitioner should be able to advise you which ones are best for you.

3. Ensure you maintain the correct posture. Try standing with your back against a closed door. Align your shoulders against the door and touch the door with the back of your head, your buttocks and your heels at the same time. If you can manage this then your body is in the correct alignment. Try to hold this posture when walking. Posture is also important when sitting - it may be necessary to invest in a good office chair which provides good back and lumbar support. Latest thinking suggests that sitting with the back angled at about 120 degrees is the best position, almost in a slightly slouched position.

4. Start walking. Walking is one of the best exercises you can do to help to relieve back pain. A recent study found that a group of low back pain patients who did 3 hours brisk walking per week had considerably less pain and distress than a group who were given specific low back exercises. Walking helps exercise many the muscles in the musco skeletal system, which in turn help provide support to the spine.

5. Always ensure you keep your back straight when lifting - no matter how light the object may be.

6.A good mattress is not only important to allow to have a good night's sleep it is also important that the mattress provides good support for your back.

7. Do a quick health check. If you smoke quit. If you drink - do it in moderation. If you are overweight - loose it. Easy to say I know but the harsh facts are that people who carry too much weight are more prone to back problems, as are smokers and people who drink to excess. Try to eat a healthy balance diet making sure you eat at least five fruit and veg a day.

8. If you drive pay attention to how you get in and out of the car. Sit down facing the door and swing both legs into the car together. Getting out is the reverse. It may look cumbersome but many a bad back is triggered by getting in or out of the car the wrong way. Ensure if you are driving any distance that you take regular breaks and have a walk around.

9. Buy a TENs or EMS machine to help relax those tensed up muscles and block out any nerve pain.

10. Always seek medical help from a Doctor, Chiropractor, Osteopath, Physical Therapist or other health care practitioner. Do some research on the Web before visiting your health care practitioner and make a list of questions to ask. If your back problem persists, seriously consider having a MRI scan. This is usually definitive in identifying the problem area and it is particularly useful in determining the source of sciatic nerve pain.

Once you know what is wrong you can focus all your energy on rehabilitation. Usually there are many avenues to explore including surgery, passive manipulation, Yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates, Alexander Technique, or Chi Kung. What works well for some may not work at all for others so it is important to explore as many avenues as possible and try to keep positive.

This information in this article should not be used to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease. You should always consult with your health care professional especially relating to the suitability of exercises, supplements or drugs and on all health matters that may require diagnosis or medical attention.

How to Diagnose Lower Back Pain

Lower back pain is a common affliction, with millions each year visiting physicians for relief. Not only will they seek relief, they will want a diagnosis.

It is not always easy to diagnose lower back pain. Many body structures can cause it. There are muscles, ligaments, and tendons; spinal column bones; joints, discs and nerves. In addition to these structures, there may be underlying medical conditions your physician needs to evaluate.

Whether you initially diagnose lower back pain yourself, or leave that to your physician, the diagnosis will need to consider both the location and symptoms of your pain.

Step 1 - Location

The first step is to decide the location. "Where does it hurt?"

1. Axial lower back pain: This lower back pain hurts only in the low back. Pain does not travel into any other area.

2. Radicular lower back pain: This lower back pain hurts in the low back, and also radiates down the backs of the thighs into one or both legs.

3. Lower back pain with referred pain: Diagnose lower back pain with referred pain if it hurts in the low back area, and tends to radiate into the groin, buttocks, and upper thighs. The pain will rarely radiate below the knee, but may seem to move around.

Step 2 - Symptoms

Once you diagnose lower back pain as to location, you will consider symptoms. "How does it feel?"

1. Worsens with certain activities: If you play football, for example, the pain is worse.

2. Worsens in certain positions: Perhaps it gets worse if you stand for too long. Or it is more painful after you sit in a car.

3. Feels better after rest: Resting from the activity or position usually reduces the lower back pain.

4. Deep and steady: Not a sharp muscle catch, this pain is constant and deep within the affected areas.

5. Severe: The pain is excruciating, possibly more so in the calf than the lower back.

6. Numbness and tingling: There may be "pins and needles" within the area.

7. Fleeting pain: Pain may seem to come and go, leaving you unsure at times just how it feels.

8. Achy and dull: Like the flu, this pain is sore and dull, though sometimes intensifying.

9. Migratory: It hurts in one spot, then another.

Diagnosis

AXIAL: If location is best described by number 1 above, and symptoms are a combination of 1, 2, and 3, you can probably diagnose lower back pain as being axial - the most common type. This is also called "mechanical" lower back pain. A variety of back structures can cause axial lower back pain, and it is difficult to identify which is the cause. Axial pain gets better on its own, and about 90% of patients recover within six weeks.

RADICULAR: If location is best described by number 2 above, and symptoms are a combination of 4, 5, and 6, you can probably diagnose lower back pain as being radicular - commonly called sciatica. This lower back pain is caused by compression of a lower spinal nerve, usually the sciatica nerve that runs from the spinal column, down the back of the thighs to the feet. Doctors usually recommend conservative treatment such as physical therapy exercises, medications, and possibly spinal injections, for six to eight weeks.

REFERRED: If location is best described by number 3 above, and symptoms are a combination of 7, 8, and 9, you can probably diagnose your pain as being lower back pain with referred pain - the least common type. This lower back pain is treated the same as axial back pain and frequently goes away as the problem resolves on its own.

How do you diagnose lower back pain?

Diagnose lower back pain with care. You need an accurate diagnosis, which your physician can best make, to be sure no underlying causes need attention. It is not enough to know you have sciatica. You need to know the underlying cause of the sciatica to determine treatment options.

If you do diagnose lower back pain, check the diagnosis with your physician.

Identifying the Cause of Your Lower Back Pain

An unfortunate fact of life for most people is the prospect of lower back pain. Not only do many people experience pain in the lower area of their back during their lifetime, but the vast majority never know why they experience the pain. Identifying the cause of your low back pain can be an important step toward finding a more effective treatment for it.

Unfortunately, effective treatment for back pain often proves elusive, as successfully identifying the cause of the pains rare. In many cases, even our physicians can't tell us why our backs hurt. Still, it is important for you to begin by talking to your doctor in case the pain you are having in your back has a serious cause. Most of what is currently known about the most common types of low back pain is that the pain in the region of the lumbar spine can be disabling.

There are a number of treatments that have been found effective for most types of lower back pain, but in order to get the most effective treatment possible, you need to begin by identifying the cause of the pain. Often, pain that is located in the lower back area is caused by something readily identifiable, such as a recent injury, though you may not recall the injury because it may have seemed like a minor twinge in your back at the time.

Many people fail in identifying the cause of the pain in the lower part of their back because they fail to realize that a large percentage of such pain does not directly involve the spine. For example, hip problems or leg injuries can cause pain in the back. A lack of muscular development, muscular flexibility, or even muscular distribution can all lead to chronic lower back pain. The lower part of your back is significantly involved in most of the movements you make, so proper muscular support and movements are important for good lower back health.

Many people find that ridding themselves of chronic pain in the lower back is possible simply by building up strong, flexible lower back musculature. Even when the pain is centered in the spine, having strong muscles and using them in appropriate motions can help relieve the stresses put on the spine by carrying more of your weight burden.

You should understand now how identifying the cause of your lower back pain will allow you to quickly begin an appropriate treatment problem to cure or manage the pain.

Lower Back Pain Causes - Severe Back Pain Relief IS Possible!

Lower Back Pain Causes - Low back discomfort is common, it is estimated that over 80% of us suffer from it...but before we can select the best treatments for the symptoms, it helps to investigate the causes.

There are a number of lower back pain causes in people:

1. The Sacro-Illiac joint that connects the spinal cord to the pelvis often is the subject of abuse or mistreatment thanks to improper movement and lifting. When this joint is irritated it can cause severe lower back pain.

2. The low back is often the victim of poor posture, and having bad posture for long periods of time can often cause lower back pain.

3. Sitting for long periods of time ( like at our desks) may cause the joints of your lower back to become tired, and the muscles that support the spinal cord may tighten and cause back pain.

4. Even sleeping in the wrong position can cause pain in the lower back.

If you are suffering from low back pain symptoms and inflammation - and not some more serious underlying disorder like cancer, disc herniation, bulging discs, osteoporosis, sclerosis, scoliosis, vertebrae damage or one of the other more serious conditions... treatments are rather straightforward and can be very effective.

As always, check with your physician to determine the underlying problem causing your backache before you self treat or take any medications.

Prevention Virtually all of the causes of low back weakness and acute, severe pain can actually be avoided - IF - you ensure that you take good care of your lower back. Preventative measures to avoid the disorders are far more effective, easier, faster and less painful than going to a therapist for medication to relieve your pain after the fact.

Unfortunately, if we aren't in any actual pain, it can be hard to remember to take care of your back as you perform your many daily chores and routines.

One of the best ways to prevent low back inflammatory trauma is by taking care of your spine and strengthening it - as well as your abdomen - with regular exercise.

Treatment For severe back pain relief, it is important that you strengthen your back muscles, they are what support the weight of your spine.

As mentioned, one of the bigger culprits is poor posture...those of us with poor posture often suffer from weak back muscles, poor posture is a main cause of the lower back problem. Treat your low back pain by working on your posture and it can be one of the easiest methods of chronic pain management available to us.

Surprisingly, your stomach muscles play a bigger part as one of the causes of low back ache than most of us realize.

So...to get lower back pain relief...

Exercises You also need to make the effort to strengthen your abdominal muscles, these muscles are what will hold your posture straight from the front. You need to work your entire core and strengthen all of your core muscles to ensure that you have good posture and a strong torso.

A simple set of back pain exercises done in 10 or 15 minutes per day will ease your back strain more than you may think. There are many exercises that you can do to help strengthen your lower back and core muscles:

• Lift one leg - hold your leg out in front of you for 10 seconds before lowering it slowly and placing it on the floor. Lift your other leg and repeat the hold for ten seconds. Do this five times per leg, this exercise will strengthen your lower back, stomach, and upper thigh muscles.


• Place your hands and feet flat on the floor, with your hands directly beneath your shoulders and your knees bent at a 90 degree angle. Lift your buttocks off the floor and hold your body perfectly still in the shape of a table. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds, then slowly lower your buttocks to the floor. Repeat 3 to 5 times. Move slowly, don't jerk.


• Place your back against the wall and place your legs a couple of feet out in front of the wall. Slowly lower yourself until your legs are at a 90 degree angle and you are pushing against the wall to hold up your body weight. Hold 5 to 10 seconds, then lift back up and repeat 5 times.

Summary These simple movements are surprisingly fast and effective medicine for treating and preventing the lower back pain causes that eventually plague us all. Try it, you'll like it!

Causes of Low Back Pain (Right Or Left Side) - Symptoms, Treatment and Pain Relief Options

How is your lower back feeling?

Does it hurt on the lower right side of your back?

1.) Introduction to This Article

Your lower back is the foundation for your torso. As you already know, it is imperative to be as pain free as possible in your lumbar spine. Unfortunately, more people get back pain than you might guess. It has been said that 80 % of people get back pain at some level throughout the course of their life. Let us now take a closer look at why you may be suffering from pain in your lower back, on the right side.

2.) Causes of Lower Back Pain - On The Right Side

• Muscle Strains


• Ruptured or herniated disc


• Poor body mechanics during weight lifting, sitting, or exercising.


• Obesity or previous lower back issue that was not healed completely

3.) Pain Treatment Options

If you have hurt your lower back then it is important to take it seriously, of course. When we were all younger, rest seemed to take care of everything. As we all get a little older it becomes more obvious that your life is constantly tugging at you. There is always something to do and it seems that rest is not as possible as we might like. Sometimes ice can help, but this is usually used when you are laying prone. The problem with ice is that it melts fairly quickly too.

Surgery is an option for extreme cases. However, many quality physicians will tell their patients that they would rather have you try conservative treatment options that work, rather than getting you in to the operating room. Let's face it, sometimes surgery is the only option to help us recover.

4.) Why Braces Can Help You

Many physicians will tell their patients about the importance of getting a back brace for support. They do this for 3 basic, time tested reasons. For example a quality lower back brace can help to:

• Reduce your back pain


• Promote healing of an injury lower back


• Remind you not to make certain movements that can further your injury and pain levels.

You will be surprised that a low profile, light weight back support can actually be concealed by a t-shirt as well. For this reason, people will never even know that you have one on, unless you tell them. For these reasons, many physicians and people benefit from the increased support of a back brace that unloads painful elements of their lower back.

* This is health related information. We believe in the benefits of lumbar back supports, but it is best to talk with your physician regarding health advice for your particular situation.

Lower Back Pain - Discovering The Most Common Cause Of Pain In Your Low Back

So what exactly IS the most common cause of pain in your lower back?

Hold onto you hat! Pain in your lower back is almost always caused by muscles. Don't give up on me. Muscles are powerful!

Here's what muscles do:

• Muscles move bones.


• Muscles move joints.


• Muscles move disks in your spine.

Bones, disks and joints cannot move unless muscles tell them to move.

Muscles are the prime movers of your body! You can only move because you have muscles.

But sometimes your muscles get out of balance-that means they are too strong on one side of your body and too weak on the other side.

That's called muscle imbalance. It causes lower back pain as well as pain in your head and neck and other parts of your body.

Well, it's not their fault when your muscles get out of balance. They wouldn't be unhappy and complaining if you did everything perfectly in all of your movements.

But you don't. Most of us don't. But we CAN change. Here's how:

1. We can add movements that balance our muscles better.


2. We can use ALL of our muscles instead of the same old ones over and over. That's what causes low back pain.

Using ALL of your muscles will help get rid of back pain naturally.

Did you know we have hundreds of muscles in our bodies? Yet most of us get stuck using the same 70 or so over and over. This is what creates muscle imbalance.

You used to use all of your muscles when you were a child. You can do it again. Bodies change and heal all the time.

Here are two common causes for pain in your low back:

1. The muscles in the front of your body are stronger than the back muscles. That can give you too much curve in your lower back.


2. The muscles in your back are stronger or tighter than in the front. That can pull the curve out of your lower back. You will not have enough of a hollow behind your waist. Your back will be too flat.

Exercise might seem to be the answer and it's a good answer. However, one size does NOT fit all when it comes to getting rid of your low back pain naturally. Each body is unique and we all fall into different patterns of dysfunction.

The exercises that work for my body may not be the ones that work for you.

Back Pain and Trigger Point Acupuncture

Trigger point acupuncture is a method that releases sensitive nodules in the skeletal musculature that cause referred pain-what we refer to as muscle "knots." Rather than temporarily masking the pain that's caused by these sensitive points, as medications do, trigger point acupuncture actually eliminates the source of the problem. This therapy is also effectively used to relieve problems and pain associated with neck, shoulder, wrist, leg etc. This article will focus exclusively on trigger point acupuncture for low back pain.

Which Points Cause Low Back Pain?

With low back pain, the source can be muscle knots in a number of different muscles.

The Trigger points in the following muscles can refer pain to the low back: erector spinae longissimus, erector spinae iliocostalis, multifidi, rotatores, rectus abdominis, quadratus lumborum, iliopsoas, gluteus medius, gluteus maximus, levator ani, and piriformis.

In Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual, author Janet Travell, a Western physician who is credited with coining the term "trigger point," says of low back pain, "Occasionally only one muscle will be responsible for the pain as presented, but it is much more common for several muscles to contribute to overlapping pain patterns... No two patients present exactly the same picture."

Travell says, "The muscles in general and [trigger points] in particular receive little attention as a major source of pain and dysfunction in modern medical school teaching and in medical textbooks."

Effective treament for Low back Pain

One of the most beneficial things about acupuncture is that it places you into the relaxation response, similar to what is achieved by meditation. Acupuncture reduces inflammation and pain in the body and also reduces the body's biochemical responses to stress and lowers blood pressure. It does this by increasing the secretion of our body's natural opiates, endorphins, our feel good hormones and by increasing secretion of natural cortisone-like anti-inflammation drugs in the adrenal glands.

Trigger point acupuncture goes one step further. In addition to being profoundly relaxing, as above, when you relieve these sensitive nodules the muscle responds by actually lengthening and releasing. This has a decompressing effect on joints, tendons, and tendon sheaths. After a session the patient usually feels a release just like in a chiropractic adjustment. This is generally followed by an immediate relief in pain. Usually patients will sleep profoundly well the night of a treatment, which also has enormous restorative value.

Treatment is much more effective when the practitioner is familiar with both therapies and incorporates them together.

Why Does Lower Back Pain and Constipation Occur?

Lower back pain and constipation are often seen together. Once you understand how this happens you will then realize what you must do to make sure both ease quickly but also how to get long term relief. Read on to make sure you understand more on why these occur.

The low back is comprised of five vertebrae and if you include the sacrum (the wedge shaped bone at the base of your spine) then there are actually six. From the spine exits the nerves, these nerves supply the energy to your muscle sin the lower back and legs so you can move and perform the activities you wish.

However, from the spine also exits nerves that supply energy to the digestive system. The lower spine feeds this supply to the lower bowel. If you don't know, there are in fact two types of nervous systems.

The Two Types Of Nervous Systems

The first is your Skeletal Nervous System which supplies the nerve to the muscles and joints; it deals with both pain and movement. The second is the Autonomic Nervous System which supplies nerve to the organs and stimulates them to become active or to slow down.

Although somewhat independent of each other, if there is interference in the same location both systems can become affected.

This is why when your low back starts to falter; the skeletal and autonomic systems can both start to fail. You will develop pain in your muscles and joints, but also your bowel may become sluggish and hence constipation develops.

Lower Back Pain and Constipation

The problems don't just stop there either. Once the bowel has become sluggish, pressure also builds in the bowel which can increase the pressure on the spine. The spine is bathed in fluid and if pressure increases in the abdomen this pressure affects your spine.

So you may develop constipation from a lower back issue, but you can also develop lower back aches and pain from a bowel issue. Once you are constipated the low back will struggle to function correctly.

To add further misery, each muscle in your body has a corresponding muscle that can react if that organ is affected. The Large Intestine which is involved with constipation relates to the Hamstrings and Tensor Fascia Lata which are both pelvic stabilizers.

Lower back pain and constipation can occur easily and once present both can recreate the other. Whether your constipation arose due to the lower back or whether it is due to poor diet, dehydration or any other issue, once present it is involved in the cycle of pain.

The Solution to Both Lower Back Pain and Constipation

There are only ever three steps needed in all health problems. First you identify the cause; second you eliminate the symptoms and finally remove the cause.

The results for lower back pain relief are poor for the mere fact that most techniques only ever deal with the structural issues, and even then most only deal with muscles.

To get lasting lower back pain relief you must remove both the symptoms and the cause. The causes can be muscle joint and even organ related.

The same applies to constipation. Taking laxatives, eating certain foods, using supplements may make you regular. But if you stop using these and you return to a constipated situation then that underlying cause is still present.

And long term constipation can lead to more serious bowel issues as you age.

So no matter what caused your lower back ache and constipation, you need techniques that use a variety of approaches. Which is why in the X-Pain Method we teach structural techniques along with Acupressure to make sure both the structural and organ based causes are eliminated. That way you get lasting lower back pain relief as well as long term constipation relief.

Understanding why lower back pain and constipation occurs helps you to understand the process of removing them long term.

Four Secrets to Relieving Back Pain by Releasing Hidden Painful Emotions

If you live with back pain, you are not alone. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH) "nearly everyone at some point has back pain that interferes with work, routine daily activities, or recreation".
Over twenty five years ago I strained my back while moving a piano up a staircase in student housing at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City where I was attending law school.
The pain persisted and finally, many years later, I sought the help of my first chiropractor Clyde Keller in Sandy, Utah.
Dr. Keller's adjustments gave me a lot of relief.
Still the pain returned periodically and so I returned to see Dr. Keller.

STRESS AND LOW BACK PAIN
As time passed I began to see that pain in my back and neck coincided with times of high stress in my career as a personal injury attorney. When I realized that stress was a factor and worked to reduce my stress levels my visits to the chiropractor become less frequent.
This was my first introduction to the relationship between feelings and physical malaise and pain.

SEDONA METHOD
About three years ago I was introduced to the Sedona Method which is a tool that teaches you how to release negative emotions, including those associated with physical pain. I began exploring and releasing years of accumulated negative emotion. In law school we were taught to work with our intellects and so, years after law school, I found myself virtually numb with repressed emotions.
The feelings came off in layers. I peeled them off one by one like the layers of an onion. Little by little I felt more alive.
"Most chronic back pain has a strong emotional component," says Hale Dwoskin author of the Sedona Method and Director of Training at Sedona Training Associates in Sedona, Arizona.
"When you release the stress and tension that is either causing your back pain or simply magnifying it, even long-standing pain in your back can easily dissolve," Dwoskin says. "Either way you will feel a lot better emotionally, which usually translates to profound physical relief as well."

YOU CAN HEAL YOUR LIFE
Later I read Louise Hay's "You Can Heal Your Life." This book offers a list of maladies with their probable causes and a recommended new thought pattern
For "lower back problems" it offers as the probable cause: "Fear of money. Lack of financial support." The recommended new thought pattern is "I trust the process of life. All I need is always taken care of. I am safe."
Repeating the new thought pattern provided relief not just for pain in my lower back but also for any feeling of discomfort or tension in that area.
Another principle I learned from Hay's book is that we don't let go of a problem until we let go of the need for that problem. And that applies to illness. So, I began to use an additional new thought pattern or affirmation in relation to my low back pain: "I am willing to release the need for low back pain."
Try out this simple process in area of your life. You will find that releasing the need for the problem will go a long way toward resolving it.

EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIQUE
Recently I was introduced to the emotional freedom technique (EFT). This method uses tapping on specific areas of the body to release negative emotional energy.
Though it sounded bizarre I tried it and found it to be very powerful. It even released energy or charge that did not release with the other methods.
You can download a free guide to EFT at http://www.emofree.com. There you can also find a list of practitioners.
The best overall guide to the subject of EFT is "Getting Through to Your Emotions" by Phillip and Jane Mountrose.

CONCLUSION
Try these methods. Hopefully, releasing negative feelings will lead your to better health and a pain free back.

Identify the Causes of Burning Lower Back Pain

Do you have burning lower back pain and can't quite figure out what's causing it? If you're like many people, you have this at least occasionally and you're tired of it. That means that if you can eliminate the causes of the burning pain, you will likely be able to stop getting the pain in your lower back and that can mean good news for you. So, before you can look for an effective treatment, you need to identify the cause of your pain. There are many common causes and you may relate to one of these.

Another Round of an Inflamed Sciatic Nerve

The term a pinched sciatic nerve is all too familiar with many back pain sufferers and this certainly provides you with burning lower back pain. If you're not familiar, the sciatic nerve runs down the spine. When you move in a certain way that causes your muscles surrounding the nerve to rub on it the wrong way or compress against this sensitive nerve, you are asking for trouble. This is one of the more common causes of burning pain in the lower back that you will find and you would be surprised how sensitive this little nerve can be. However, if you can determine what movements you have done that can cause this nerve to become irritated, you will be able to eliminate this cause all together in many cases.

Overworked Back Muscles

Why do we all assume that our backs are strong? Most people's backs are the weakest parts of their bodies. This might be why you are suffering from burning lower back pain. Have you struggled and strained to move anything heavy? If you strained for lack of strength, your poor back would have had to do all the work. We don't typically work our backs out and they are already tired from doing the daily work of supporting the body - keeping you upright, protecting the essential spine, absorbing shock from walking or running.

If your back muscles are already tired, you will likely find that to add to the burden by lifting heavy objects or moving things improperly, you will suffer from lower back pain. Why not work to make the back muscles strong by strengthening these particular muscles and work to support them by strengthening the core at the same time? You might find that your burning pain in the lower back not only goes away for a time, but it will vanish for good.

Herniated or Slipped Discs

Here's a lesson that you may or may not know; the spine has "shock absorbers" between each vertebra called discs. These are what helps you to stay comfortable and pain free throughout much of your life. Discs can help to ease every day wear and tear on the spine and are also help you to move fluidly. These are also susceptible to injury if you're not careful with your body. Many times, we will find that if we injure these discs, there will be burning lower back pain. You might have herniated a disc, which means that the disc is injured and inflamed. This is a time when you should try to take it easy and not overwork your back, so the swelling can go down and the disc can fit back into place.

In other cases, you may find that you have slipped a disc. In this case, not only will you suffer from a burning pain, but this type of pain is more serious and may require the help of a health care professional or chiropractor so don't play around with this type of problem.

Any time that you have burning lower back pain, you need to be able to identify the causes and keep track of your symptoms so that you can either let your health care professional know or start to begin your own back pain treatment program.

Back Pain Symptoms - First Look For The Underlying Cause Of The Problem

Back pain is a symptom of a body that's out of alignment. It's a symptom that weak and tight muscles somewhere in your body have allowed those bones to move out of alignment.

The pain is telling people to do something to get the bones in their lower back into better alignment.

What most people are not aware of is the principle that says, 'The cause of the pain is rarely at the site where it's painful.'

Their therapist probably hasn't heard of this principle either. You'll know this is the case if the therapist starts heating, rubbing, crunching or vibrating the spot where it hurts.

So if back pain is a symptom of a body that's out of alignment what is it that's caused the bones of the lower back to move out of alignment?

It's usually tight muscles attached you your pelvis - front, back and sides. If they're tight they'll pull the pelvis down and back and cause it to twist. If that's the case people won't be able to sit up straight with a nice hollow in their lumber spine.

When the pelvis moves out of alignment, the bones up above also move out of alignment. The natural 'S' shaped curve of the spine will have turned into a 'C' shape.

The usual cause of this happening is sitting down all day in the 'slump dog' position and not having a flexibility training program to loosen off the calf, hamstring and buttock muscles.

Flexibility is the first problem.

The second contributing factor is a lack of overall body strength. How can you expect the bones of your back to stay in alignment if the muscles supporting those bones are weak? Well you can't.

I recently had a bloke come to see me with lower back pain. He'd done the rounds and spent thousands of dollars on therapists who thought the cause of his problem was in his lower back. They didn't understand that his lower back pain symptoms were caused by weak and tight muscles attached to his pelvis.

No-none had checked to see which muscles were tight and no-one had checked to see how strong he was.

He could hardly do a situp. He could hardly do a pressup. He'd never done a Superman back arch or a squat. He didn't have a strength training program at the gym.

It beggars belief that no-one had made an effort to search for the underlying cause of his pain. Maybe it's too simple to ask people to see if they can sit up straight in a few simple yoga-type postures or watch to see if they can do the most popular strength exercises.

It just reinforces my belief that it's a waste of time going to see anyone who doesn't tell you the likely cause of your problem and/or doesn't give you a good suite of strength and flexibility exercises to restore poor function to good. Just treat any therapy as complementary health care. The primary health care for joint and muscle pain is the strength and flexibility exercises you do yourself.

In a nutshell the symptoms of back pain are weak and tight muscles somewhere in your body. Often it's tight and weak muscles right throughout your body.

In the meantime stay tuned highly tuned and embark on a regular and systematic strength and flexibility training program. Any therapy on top of that will speed up the rehab process.

Have You Been Able to Catch the Lower Back Pain Symptoms?

The first step to kill any kind of pain and particularly back pain is to understand its true cause. What could be the possible reason of your lower back pain symptoms? Is the pain mild or severe? Since how long are you facing the pain? These questions could help you introspect into getting some critical answers with the help of which your back pain could be cured at an early stage itself.

Some Very Important Things To Remember!

Lower back pain can be mild or severe. It is important to understand that most of the times these pains are periodical and may not last continuously for days. They keep re-occurring over a period of time. In most of the cases, lower backache occurs due to damage or over exertion of certain ligaments in the spine. Therefore it is important to keenly observe these pains so as to determine their true nature. The most commonly faced problem by the doctors is that they fail to determine the true cause of this pain and provide an effective curative solution. One must understand that backache being of a complex nature, the doctor may choose to observe and study these pains carefully and over a period of time before prescribing strong medication. However you are your best judge. Therefore your observations also play a vital role and could help your physician in diagnosis. Some of the common symptoms are:

• Persistent aching or stiffness in the hips or waist area.
  


• Pain encountered after long hours of sitting or standing.
  


• Pain encountered during back movements. For e.g. while bending, walking or performing any kind of sport.
  


• Pain during while getting up from the bed in the mornings.
  


• Pain while moving hands. For e.g. while shaking hands.

The above mentioned are the most common symptoms and also the most ignored symptoms of back pain. Ignorance of these indications in most of the cases is the common reason of chronic pain. Lower backache symptoms if attacked at an early stage can be cured with proper medical attention, care and the right diagnosis. One the other hand, one must also understand that there is no need to get panicky as soon as you encounter it. With advancement in the scientific field, there are a number of treatments available which can cure back pain. It's just important to be optimistic!

Exercises For Lower Back Pain - How to Get Rid of Your Back Pain Naturally

Since a lot of manual workers have problems with their backs due to excessive stress, exercises for lower back pain can help them a lot if they learn how to do them correctly.

A lot of people don't understand that a great way for back pain relief is fitness exercises, not taking pills without working at all. If you want another way to fix your problems, lower back exercises can help you get rid of the pain or at least reduce it.

Your pain will disappear faster if you exercise on a regular basis, as this will also improve flexibility and strengthen the muscles. All these benefits contribute to the reduction of chances of an acute back pain attack happening.

There are two components of exercises that can be done for lower back pain. First is the increased flexibility and strength, plus the body conditioning overall. You can get your body in great condition if you do some cardiovascular exercises (biking, walking or swimming) on a regular basis.

Your lower back will also improve if you lose some of the extra weight. In the beginning you should start slow, but in time you should get to 20-40 minutes of exercise in each session, with 3-5 sessions per week.

The second component of these exercises will make your back muscles more powerful and flexible. Besides your lower back, exercises will also improve your other muscles and abdominals.

With exercise you will be able to keep the back of the thigh loose, which decreases the chance of injury.

You should talk with your doctor if you want to do these exercises, to make sure it's safe for you to do them, and to recommend a specialist that can take care of you.

How Low Bone Density Is Associated With Low Back Pain and How Chiropractic Care Helps

Low bone density or osteopenia in medical term is a problem that commonly affects women, particularly in their middle ages and certainly after menopause. Its bone mineral density is lower than normal peak. It is estimated that 40% of all postmenopausal Caucasian women have low bone density and proportion of these women will go on to develop osteoporosis, with a high risk of bone fractures.

Bones constantly recycle themselves to maintain their strength. Old bone is absorbed by the cells in body called osteoclasts in a process known as resorption. New bone growth by cells called osteoblasts replenishes the old. The osteoblasts construct new bone material to maintain bone strength. Low bone density takes place when old bone is taken up than new bone deposited, resulting to thinning of bone or low bone density and in severe cases, may result to osteoporosis, a disease characterized by low bone mass and structural deterioration of bone tissue that leads to bone fragility and an increased fractures of hip, spine, and wrist.

The association between bone density and low back pain is quite intimate. The classic condition and cause of spinal pain associated with the loss of bone density is spinal compression fracture. All bones lose strength over time and the lumbar vertebrae, particularly in postmenopausal women, can be fractured or compressed from a fall or even from the stress of lifting or everyday activities. The bone strength decreases to a point where slight trauma and sometimes, no trauma whatsoever can result in a fracture.

A compression fracture is a complete bone break that disrupts the bone tissue and collapses the affected bone. Most commonly, the site where compression fractures occur can be found on the spinal vertebral body. Pain from a vertebral compression can be severe and it may show no symptoms and only be discovered when x-rays of the spine are done for other reasons. Over time symptoms such as back pain, loss of height, and kyphosis or stooped over posture may occur. A person may experience less pain during bed rest due to the fact that sitting and standing puts weight on the vertebra and can cause pain.

Studies have shown that the likelihood of incurring additional vertebral fractures is increased once an individual has already experienced one, even if that person does not have low bone density. Research also suggests that around 20% of older women who experience spinal fracture will experience another such fracture within a year.

The normal effects of aging in relation to decreased bone mass and decreased strength and elasticity of muscles and ligaments is unavoidable. However, such effects can be slowed by keeping the muscles that support your back strong and flexible by exercising regularly, using proper body mechanics in lifting and moving, maintaining proper body weight, maintaining a proper posture, avoiding smoking, and receiving regular chiropractic care.

Most cases of low back pain respond to chiropractic treatment. A chiropractor can accurately diagnose and effectively treat most types of low back pain. DEXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiomery) scan is used in some cases to predict brittle bone conditions. A DEXA T-score of -1.1 to 2.4 indicates osteopenia while 2.5 or greater indicates osteoporosis. A DEXA scan can also help to identify if you are at risk, before it becomes a problem.

A newer bone imaging technology has been developed. FRAX is a computer-based algorithm that provides the 10-year probability of fractures in men and women on the basis of classic risk factors alone or by integration of classic risk factors with bone mineral density, which is measured by DEXA.

Proper diagnosis will help figure out whether a chiropractic adjustment would be beneficial as a part of back pain treatment. A lot of doctors regularly refer people with severe back pain to chiropractors. A patient can go directly to a chiropractor as referral from a doctor is not actually required. The key to such health concern is early identification and intervention. Receiving chiropractic treatment helps in the prevention of low back pain from low bone density.