What is Back Pain?

Back pain is generally a pain or discomfort that occurs in an area called the lumbar spine.  It can be many things to many people and the about of discomfort and vary between different cultures and experiences amonst people. If you are like me, relying on a couple of advil to get through a weekend project, you know how disruptive back pain can be to your life. Most of us have jobs that require sitting or don’t require much lifting.   We can sit for hours at a desk and use subpar body mechanics that the lumbar spine is suffering from disuse.  And as such, the body is not conditioned for just a hint of physical activity.  It has been called the great masquerader of many things because there are structures outside of the area of the back that can cause the same symtoms.  Half of the battle is to find quere the pain is coming from.  Backipedia will help you find the answers to your particular situation.

What Causes Back Pain?

Generally, 80% of the population will suffer back pain during the course of life.  No matter what the cause, most back pain goes away in time.  Firstly, it is important to say that if your back pain or discomfort lasts more than 6 weeks,  it is important that you seek medical attention.  This could be a sign of something more serious.  There are many things that cause back pain.

Some of the common causes of back pain are:

• Muscular strains and overuse injuries
• Disc Herniation
• Degenerative Disc Disease
• Spinal Stenosis
• Osteoarthritis or Spondylosis
• Spinal Instability or Spondylolisthesis

There are number of less common conditions can cause low back pain as well, such as sacroiliac joint dysfunction, fibromyalgia, pirformis syndrome and spinal tumors.

How Much Does it Cost?

How do we treat back pain and return to normal?

The first thing we need to do is control the pain and discomfort to allow us to move again.  We can use over the counter preparations such as Advil or Aleve which are antiinflammatories or use a pain reliver such as Tylenol.  Some of us may require a trip to our physician to get stronger medications that require a prescription. Secondly, we need to get the body moving again.  Because of our illness, things can get stiff and weak.  Take our cars.  If we leave them in the driveway undattended, the engine may not start. But if we go out every day and turn the motor over, the car will work more reliable for us. The engine of our spine is the lumbar muscles, hips, gluteus muscles, and hamstring muscles.  All of these work in concert to get us moving.  If any of these get out of alignment, then the center core starts to break down.  We lose our natural curve or lordosis, and we get out of alignment.   Physical therapy is the most common was to achieve a return to motion with increased strength to our cores.

What can we expect after our first bout with low back pain?

Well, you can expect our episodes of pain.  Most individuals experiece two or three episodes every year.  That is par for the course.   We need to be a student of our bodies and be a committed caretaker.  The advice of our medical caretakers are important not just at the time of a flareup but should be followed and practiced as a course of habit.  Just as we wake up and every morning and brush out teeth, we should excercise and practice what I call body maintenance.

Maintenance Tips; 

• Roll the shoulders back and fight the hunch back
• Suck the gut in for 30 seconds each hour
• Get an excercise ball for crunches and back extension
• Chin Tucks