Back Pain: A common occurance...

If you are troubled with back pain, you are far from alone. With today’s “always on the move” society, more and more people are putting abnormal stresses on their bodies and they are in turn breaking down. That has lead to four out of five adults experience low back pain symptoms at some point in their lifetime.

The back is an intricate composition of 33 spinal vertebrae, greater then 30 muscles, multiple ligaments and joints, and the inter-vertebral discs that separate the spinal vertebrae. An abnormal stress to or deterioration of anyone of these areas can generate back pain symptoms.

Some of the most common causes of back pain are:

1.) Muscular Strains: due to an sudden pulling or twisting of the muscles of the back
2.) Ligamentous Strains: when the ligaments are over stretched
3.) Herniated Discs: compress the spinal nerves as they leave the spinal column. Often the consequence of a heavy loading of the back such as with improper lifting. Also, herniated discs cause ridicular symptoms, i.e. sciatica.
4.) Spinal Stenosis: narrowing of the spinal canal due to ligamentous thickening, bony spurs, etc.
5.) Osteoarthritis: (Degenerative Joint Disease) degeneration of cartilage in discs between vertebrae, causing the bones to rub together and inflammation and stiffness
6.) Osteoporosis: progressive loss of bone density, leading to stress fractures

So, while back pain is becoming a more common occurrence in today’s world due to various causes, there are things that can be done to prevent and/or treat it. After speaking with your physician, a course of physical therapy provides great results in relieving back pain.

Therefore, remember just as there are many people with the same ailment as you, there are also many practitioners here to assist you in treating it.

Chris Lybarger, PT