Common Causes of Lower Back Pain

Prevent Lower Back Pain with Chiropractic Care

Lower back pain is one of the most pervasive, persistent and chronic conditions not only in the United States but also around the world. In fact, according to the American Chiropractic Association (ACA):

• Lower back pain is the single leading cause of disability across the globe.
• One-half of all working Americans admit to having back pain symptoms annually.
• There are 31 million Americans who experience low-back pain at any given time.

These statistics mean that most people – as much as 80 percent of the population, say experts – will experience lower back pain in their lifetime.

What Is Lower Back Pain?

In general, lower back pain is any discomfort or pain in your lower back (aka lumbar spine or lumbar region) which extends down to your pelvis. It could come on suddenly and leave just as quickly, or it could become chronic if it stays with you for more than three months.

Symptoms of lower back pain include a dull, constant ache or sharp, bursting pain. Lower back pain could become severe enough to cause you to feel as though you’ve thrown your back out, leaving you only able to lie in bed unable to move.

What Causes Lower Back Pain?

The majority causes of lower back pain causes aren’t life-threatening or serious, except in very rare cases. Here are a few of the most common causes of lower back pain, according to the Mayo Clinic:

• Muscle or Ligament Strain: Quickly and awkwardly moving the wrong way or repetitive heavy lifting can strain back muscles and ligaments and cause painful muscle spasms, especially if you’re in poor physical shape.
• Bulging or Ruptured Discs: Disks have soft material inside of them and provide a cushion between the bones (aka vertebrae) in your spine. This soft material can rupture or bulge resulting in pain and nerve pressure.
• Arthritis: The lower back can be affected by osteoarthritis. Arthritis of the spine can further lead to a narrowing of the spine or spinal stenosis.
• Skeletal Irregularities: An abnormal curve in your spine – such as a severe case of scoliosis, which is when your spine curves to the side – can lead to lower back pain.
• Osteoporosis: This disease makes your bones porous and brittle, and if it presents in your spine, you can develop painful compression fractures leading to lower back pain.

Other causes of lower back pain include poor posture, obesity, congenital abnormality, traumatic injury, falling and psychological stress, as well as diseases of the internal organs, such as kidney stones and kidney infections.

Tips to Prevent Lower Back Pain

Rest assured there are simple ways to prevent lower back pain. For instance, ACA experts suggest:

• Maintaining a healthy weight and diet, as well as good posture.
• Exercising under the care of your physician or doctor of chiropractic.
• Lightly stretching before and after everyday physical activities such as yard work or cleaning.
• Wearing comfortable, low-heeled shoes.
• Sleeping on a mattress with medium firmness.
• Always lifting with your knees, keeping the object close to your body and not twisting.
• Avoiding or quitting smoking to ensure proper flow of blood, oxygen, and nutrients to the spinal tissue.
• Working at an ergonomically correct workstation and periodically stretching at your desk to avoid work-related injuries.

What to Do If You Have Lower Back Pain

If you’re experiencing mild, moderate or severe back pain, then you should seek medical treatment right away. Give Dr. Todd Goldman at Total Chiropractic Care and Wellness in Medford a call at (631) 447-2299 today. He’s helped many patients with their pain management naturally via non-surgical back treatment.

The adjustments and treatments such as spinal decompression our Medford chiropractor provide his patients are based on his diagnostic findings and address the underlying musculoskeletal misalignments triggering a patient’s pain, rather than simply “hiding” these symptoms with medication.