Primary Causes of Lower Back Pain

For any person trying to learn the causes of lower back pain, it is important to recognize first that it is not a condition but rather a sign of irregularities in the muscles, ligaments, and nerves in the lower area of the back and possible diseases found in that specific area, like the kidneys.

Lower back pain is commonly one-sided; depending upon the pinched nerve root, it may occur on the left side or the right side.

Because many conditions could generate the pain, cited here are the primary causes of lower back pain:

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  Poor form, particularly when carrying large items (the mere act of carrying an object bigger than your body weight could cause lower back pain). Sitting for a long-period of time with arch back can also cause pain on your lower back.? If you work 8 hours a day in work office, sitting the whole time is inevitable. Take a break, stand up and stretch your back at least every three hours, and make sure that you are sitting up straight.? Bad sitting posture can't be corrected by trying harder, you need to stop sitting badly and let your body resume its natural posture.


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  Stress and fractures.


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  Non-specific anxiety or sprain of the back muscles, ligaments and soft tissues.


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  Physical factors such as disc degeneration in spondylosis, stenosis of the spine, disc herniation, spinal abnormalities such as scoliosis, and leg length discrepancy (one leg is shorter than the other)


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  Inflammation related illnesses, such as rheumatoid arthritis and spondylitis.


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  Infections, like osteomyelitis, epidural abscess and Post-herpetic neuralgia, bring about nerve irritation.


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  Metabolic problems, such as osteoporosis and osteomalacia.


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  Cancers of the bone and spine that would constrict upon the nerves.


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  Related soreness, such as in kidney disease and prostate cancer.


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  Pinched nerve, which is appropriately called as nerve root impingement (direct irritation on a nerve) or nerve root syndromes, such as sciatica and cauda equina syndrome.


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  Standard pregnancy (the rising weight and the strain of lugging a child causes strain on the lower part area of the back, nerve irritation, and elongating of pelvic ligaments).


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  Bone and joint pain syndromes, such as fibromyalgia (described by generalized ache, tenderness, rigidity and fatigue) and myofascial pain (with pain and tenderness experienced in localized areas referred to as "trigger points", which observe the dermatomal or radiating pattern of a peripheral nerve).

Depression has also been mentioned as one of the causes of lower back pain. However, reports on patients suffering from the pain and making use of anti-depressants as remedy have generated inconclusive outcomes.

How Long Does Lower Back Pain And Spasms Last

As you grow older, you tend to develop lower back pain or lumbago. Seven out of ten people will experience it at some time in their lives The risk increases if you inflict strains and sprains through incorrect lifting or awkward movement. Exercises can also injure your lower back. If your work regularly involves lifting, twisting, bending, and reaching, you can injure your back.

Studies show that people between 19 and 45 years old suffer from disability due to back ache. After the age of 45, the condition can become severe.

Usually when you impose injury on the muscles, bones, ligaments, and joints in your back , you jeopardize your back. The painful back also shows that the tendons or discs are damaged. You can feel the discomfort anywhere on your back, in between the bottom of the ribs and the top of the legs. You may find it difficult to move around and stand upright.

Usually, the pain will last from a couple of days to a few weeks. Most of the times, it will go away after six weeks. If you endure the pain in less than three months, you then have an acute condition. Once the condition extends to over 12 weeks, the condition becomes chronic.

Most of the acute cases happen because of a trauma to the lower back or a disorder such as arthritis. Sometimes, a sports injury or a damage on the spinal bones and tissues due to accident can result in acute back pain.

When the disc is damaged, the muscles on either side of the spine are in spasm. Straining of back muscles can lead to spasm. The discomfort usually go away in one to two weeks.

If a specific disorder contribute to your lower back pain, by applying treatment on that disorder may solve the problem.

To relieve pain, you can rest in bed for a few days. But don't rest for more than two days. When in bed, lie on the back with a pillow behind the knees with your head and shoulders elevated.

You can also buy over-the-counter or prescription non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to minimize inflammation. Muscle relaxants can also soothe muscles spasms. During the period of recuperating, wear a back pain support if you continue with any back-stressing tasks.

If you sit for a long period or lift heavy object in a job, consult an occupational therapist to suggest upper limb exercises and safer revisions on performance of such job.

Back pain can interfere your life and work. Fortunately, in most cases, it will go away on its own. If the pain persist too long, then you need to consult your doctor to diagnose your condition. You will then be given an appropriate treatment based on the underlying cause.

Lower Back Pain Relief - Learn The Cause To Find The Cure

It may get frustrating to have to deal with lower back pain even while the doctors are struggling to determine the cause of the condition. It is a well known fact that it is difficult to pinpoint the reason of lower back pain even after many medical diagnostic tests have been carried out. Many people will resort to self help remedies in the quest to relieve themselves of their lower back pain. And when they do manage to do so it is a very satisfying feeling.

If you suffer from lower back pain and you can handle it with some sort of spray or balm freely available in the market it is ok. However, when the back pain just does not go away completely and lingers on for a couple of months it is best to get yourself to the doctor to try and determine the cause f the pain. In most cases the cause of the lower back pain will be some prescription drug that been prescribed to you and you have been taking it over a period of time. Many drugs are known to cause lower back pain if taken over an extended period of time. Stopping the use of these drugs can alleviate the pain. If stopping the drug does stop the pain it is best to stop taking the drug altogether.

There are other causes of lower back pain though and these are picking up heavy objects, bad posture, over exercise, lack of exercise and sleeping of too hard a surface or too soft a surface. Determining what caused the back pain is a difficult task but for the person suffering from the condition experimenting with a trial and error method for a few weeks or days is not difficult to pinpoint what s causing the condition. Once you have discovered that changing something about yourself, be it the way you sleep, walk, sit or change some medication actually makes your back feel better you can experiment further and alleviate the condition altogether by making permanent changes about yourself.

However, while you are still trying to discover what it is that is causing you such discomfort it is also not necessary to live with the pain. You could resort to some home made therapies to deaden the pain if it becomes too unbearable. One of these home remedies is 'inversion therapy'. This is a therapy where a patient can design a contraption to help reduce or sometimes even cure his or her back pain.

Inversion therapy requires very simple equipment - a board of wood or plank if you want to call it that. This board must be at least 1 foot wide a couple of inches thick and 6 feet long. It is placed on the floor with one side at least 3 feet higher at one end. Then the patient must lie on his or her back on the plank in an inverted fashion - head down feet up. This is practiced for at least 20 minutes a day and is known to relieve back pain by releasing the pressure on the backbone.

Whatever the therapy you try, if the back pain is too severe and lasts for more than 2 months, get yourself over to a doctor - it may be a cause for concern!

What Causes Back Pain Between The Shoulder Blades?

Back pain is something that strikes virtually every person around the world, both men and women of all ages. It's said over 80% of us will seek severe back pain relief at one time or another.

Causes...
While not as common as lower back discomfort, many people feel back pain between the shoulder blades (the scapulas). This upper back pain between the shoulder scapula can be caused by a number of factors:

• Being physically fit and trying to look good have never been more prevalent so... many young people spend a lot of time exercising. Often they are over-doing it, doing the exercises incorrectly, not properly warming up and stretching. This causes the muscles that run from their neck down between their shoulder blades to get strained very easily. Exhaustion of the muscles causes back pain between the shoulder blades too, so don't push beyond your effective limits.


• Many of us are spending more and more time in the office, sitting in uncomfortable office chairs (with bad posture), taking phone calls (with the phone propped between the ear and shoulder), lifting, twisting, bending and doing tasks that cause our bodies to tire out. When your body gets tired, usually your back begins to sag and back pain between the shoulder blades sets in.


• As mentioned, those of us with poor posture tend to slouch - which can cause pain throughout the back, not just in the upper back area.


• Men and women who are overweight and women with above average sized breasts tend to have back pain between their shoulder blades thanks to the added strain of the weight placed on their spinal column.


• Add in potential medical disorders and diseases such as a pinched nerve, disc herniation, disc degeneration, and others... and the muscles in the upper back don't stand a chance.

These things are only a few things that can be the causes of back (thoracic) pain, but they can cause discomfort ranging from mildly annoying to seriously painful, chronic and debilitating.

It is important to do what you can to address and alleviate these issues. We have enough to worry about under normal circumstance without adding in pains from back issues.

First... as always, before you seek upper back pain relief and start self treatment, see your doctor to get a diagnosis of what is creating your particular issue.

Causes for an upper back problem and back pain between the shoulder blades are many and varied and you need to find out what condition is causing your aches before you do anything that could make them worse.

Be sure to follow whatever advice your therapist recommends. I'm constantly amazed at how many of us pay for professional advice - and then ignore it.

There are back pain exercises to help loosen the muscles and strengthen your back, but those who do exercise need to ensure that they don't overexert themselves when cycling, running, training on the elliptical machine, or other activities. Make it a point to get a good stretch both before and after exercise.

Those spending a good amount of time in the office need to ensure that they have comfortable chairs to sit on. A poorly designed chair is more of a common cause of chronic back pain between the shoulder blades than most of us realize.

I like seeing a shapely leg as much as the next man, but many women wear heels that are too high, and the overly high heels contribute to their back aches. (As well as damage the feet.) Wearing comfortable shoes in the workplace is vital for back pain relief. Save the heels for a night on the town.

Poor posture can easily lead to a herniated cervical disc. It is easy to slouch, but correcting your posture will go a very long way towards avoiding potentially severe back problems.

If you suspect that you have poor posture, take a look in the mirror to check it out. If your chin is more than 2 inches in front of your chest, then you are probably hanging your too head low and slouching.

Roll your shoulders back and lift your head towards the roof. Straighten your back and lift your chest to correct your posture. You need to make the effort to walk around with good posture, it may be a hassle, but it's easier than surgery, years of physical therapy, medication and trips to your physician.

Those with large breasts should ensure that they wear bras that offer sufficient support. Larger breasted women can visit a bra specialist to obtain information on what kind of bra is the best to provide the necessary support..

Taking these small steps to change can actually help you reduce the amount of back pain between the shoulder blades that you experience, and you may find that these few small changes are the difference between acute discomfort and a pain-free life.

Overcome Lower Back Pain - Best Method Of Exercise

Most beneficial and recommended treatment for lower back pain is exercise. The extent of suffering due to low back pain has caused tremendous loss of mobility among its patients. In a catch 22 type of situation, less movement makes the muscles stagnant and causes movement to be much more painful.

A lower back pain exercise plan if followed religiously can alleviate the pain significantly and also condition the body. Exercise is almost always ordered for back pain by doctors so it is best to get going on your own to prevent back pain in the first place. The type of exercise that you undertake and the frequency at which the exercise needs to be performed varies for individuals and their special circumstances. All the same, some form of exercise is a must to be included in a treatment plan for reducing pain in specific body areas. Exercise will also improve the conditioning of back muscles.

Lower back pain exercises are designed in such a way that the patient can continue to perform daily chores easily and also see plenty of improvement in the pain level at the same time. The physical therapist or the doctor attending to you will design a customized program. But even if not consulting a doctor or a therapist, it is still possible to take lower back pain exercise on your own. Design your own program and exercise in your own home, in complete comfort. Just remember that in the beginning you may feel the pain increase for a while. As the muscles have been favored, they will first go through a period of conditioning. Only after the conditioning is over, the pain will start reducing.

Apart from the physical, psychological benefits also result from lower back pain exercise. The patient becomes much more confident about increasing the range of motion once he or she begins exercising. It becomes quite obvious on exercising. That reduced motion feeds upon itself and the muscles become atrophied. When the mind starts focusing on pain, it creates an environment where in thinking about pain continuously makes it much worse in reality. When the mind is taken off pain, even pain sensation reduces.

While there are several lower back pain exercises, some popular and more beneficial ones include pelvic tilt, oblique crunches and small crunches, press ups, an alternating arm and leg reach, lifting of legs, and cat and camel. By increasing or decreasing the level of difficulty, these exercises can be included in any lower back pain exercise program with excellent outcome. The back becomes stronger by these exercises since the muscles become tighter. The effort during exercising enhances toning and strength of muscles. As we can se from this, remaining in bed due to pain is the worst thing that we can do to ourselves as not moving the body for any length of time actually causes the muscles to deteriorate. So the way to go forward and become healthier is to go in for lower back pain exercise.

Back Pain During Pregnancy - Understand The Cause And Get Rid Of The Pain

In 2007, The Back Pain Foundation asked women what their most important questions were about back pain during pregnancy. Below are the most frequent questions that women asked:

1. How bad will back pain be during pregnancy?

2. Why do I get pain in my back?

3. How can I stop the pain and make myself more comfortable?

4. Why do I get back pain during pregnancy?

Let's take a few minutes and discuss some of those concerns. First, we need to be very clear that not all women get back pain during their pregnancy. You may go through your entire pregnancy without getting any back pain. In addition, many women will get slight symptoms that they describe as a slight discomfort, ache or tightness but not pain.

What causes back pain in pregnancy?

As far as the cause or "why" someone might get pain during pregnancy, every woman's circumstances are different. Keep in mind that your body is undergoing many types of changes and stresses during pregnancy. You are gaining weight and the weight is pushing and pulling on your body in new ways, especially throughout your spine, pelvis and rib cage. This area is sometimes referred to as the "core" of your body.

Your core is the primary weight-bearing center of your body and also that which is most important for movement. And as your core movement changes during pregnancy, muscles can become stressed and overworked. Also your legs tend to be farther apart to help you carry the weight of you baby, so your center of gravity is different and your walking is different - creating more stress on your body. The new weight that you are carrying can also compress the vertebrae in your spine. Some women will experience these various stresses as pain or discomfort. All in all, your body has some good reasons to feel "cranky" and give you some pain. So the question becomes, what do to find some relief?

Pregnancy Back Pain Relief: Tips and Tricks to Eliminate The Pain During Pregnancy

To help reduce or stop pain in your back during pregnancy, rest whenever you need to...but not too much. One of the common myths about back pain is that you need "bed rest." This is not true. Research studies have demonstrated that too much bed rest is bad for your back. When you are pregnant you should take frequent rests, sitting and taking short naps whenever you need to. But do not spend too much time in bed; it will actually make your back pain worse.

When you do sleep, explore some new sleeping positions. For instance, try sleeping on your side if your normally sleep on your back (or vice versa). Keep one or both knees bent, as if in a fetal position. You may want to place a pillow or rolled up towel between your knees or under your stomach. The key is to experiment until you find the right position for your comfort.

Check with your doctor to see if he or she will approve light exercise. Remember what we said earlier about the stresses and strain of carrying new weight? Light exercise will help relieve that strain and stress. Swimming, and walking around the block or on a treadmill are potential ways of exercising and relieving your back pain and stress.

Get a "treatment." Are you the type of person that needs an excuse to get a massage? Now you have an excuse. Take advantage of it! Find a massage therapist that has training in prenatal massage. Feldenkrais is gentle bodywork that can also be extremely useful. A Feldenkrais practitioner can help you change the dynamics of your movement so that the pain goes away and you can move easier. And of course, you can take a nice warm bath, massage yourself or ask someone close to you to rub your back. A little TLC can go a long way.

Pay attention to how you move. Have you adjusted to your new body dynamics and weight? Do you have a stool or pillow to put under your feet to take the pressure off your lower back? Have your lowered your office chair to a more comfortable height? Are you sitting down whenever you need to? In other words, slow down, pay attention to how you are moving, and make adjustments. This is a difficult one, because we rarely pay attention to how we move. But you can learn to do it. Next time you make a movement, take a moment before you do and think it through in your mind. Visualize. Can you move in an easier pain free way?

In short, take care of yourself during pregnancy. Get plenty of rest, light exercise, warm baths and perhaps a massage or feldenkrais session and you will be fine. If you do get extremely bad back pain that lasts for more than a few days see your doctor or other health care provider. Most doctors are OK with pregnant women taking an over the counter painkiller such as aspirin or ibuprofen but it is best to consult your provider first.

5 Ways Weightlifting Causes Back Pain

Lower back pain is a common phenomenon, both among new lifters and old pros. Weight-loaded machines and free weights can lead to back pain in a number of ways. Educating yourself about causes of back pain while lifting will help keep your gym visits pain-free.

Muscle Imbalance

One long-term cause of back pain is muscle imbalance. If your resistance training regimen doesn't focus on balancing all of the body's muscle groups, you likely have an imbalance. If you do leg presses, for example, you're developing huge, tight quadriceps. If you don't balance this with hamstring exercises, the tight quads will pull the pelvis down in front, change muscle tensions throughout the pelvis and lower back and affect the arch of the lumbar spine. Machines that emphasize one muscle group like the leg press are bound to leave you with muscle imbalances; it is best to stick with exercises that train multiple muscle groups.

Muscle Fatigue/Spasm

This is a cause of back pain both for competitive lifters and new lifters who are pushing themselves too hard. Muscles rely on a contraction/relaxation cycle to draw in new oxygen and pump out waste. When a muscle is overused, as when too many repetitions are performed without adequate time for the muscle to rest in between, the muscle runs out of energy and goes into spasm. This forcible contraction can last anywhere from seconds to days, and if overuse continues, it can become chronic.

Too Much, Too Soon

New lifters may fall prey to the world of ego and machismo sometimes found in the gym. Attempting to start with heavy weights can lead to strained muscles and ligaments in the back, neck and shoulders. Add improper form to the mix and injury is almost certain. You can start small and, if energy level allows, perform more repetitions than you would with heavier weights.

Picking Up, Putting Down Weight

You're eager to get into the workout, so you run to your weight of choice. Stop and remind yourself that the workout starts when you bend down to pick that weight up. Just as proper form is imperative during your workout, it is also needed to lift the weight from the ground or rack. If you begin your workout with a strain, it could turn into a more serious injury as you continue to use the muscle or ligament involved throughout your session. Use proper body mechanics when initially lifting the weight and when setting it down at the end of your workout, bending at the knees rather than the lower back.

Form

Some fitness enthusiasts advocate the use of weight-loaded machines over free weights since machines carry less risk of improper form. When using free weights, you have to balance yourself and adjust posture with no physical surfaces to guide you. It is always best to begin weight training with an instructor who can help you fine-tune your form.

For those new to exercise, beginning with body weight exercises is likely the safest bet; though improper form is a concern for any exercise, using an external weight increases your risk of injury. Begin with exercises to build your core; this will ensure that your lower back and abdominal muscles are strong enough to handle weight training a little later on. See http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/core-strength/SM00047 for a slideshow of exercises that will give you a toned, balanced core.

Knowing these 5 common causes of weightlifting back pain will help you guard against them. The majority of injury prevention while lifting is self-awareness: Know your limits, concerning both fitness and energy levels. Being cautious will keep you in the gym and out of the doctor's office.