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What Causes Lower Back Pain – And What Can You Do About It?

August 25th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

Nearly 80% of people have back pain, including lower back pain, at some point or another during their life. Because it’s an ailment that almost everyone experiences, you really need to understand what causes lower back pain. You also need to know how to control these factors to keep lower back pain to a minimum.

Causes of Lower Back Pain

As we age, we lose a lot of our body’s natural muscle tone and elasticity. We also tend to lose bone strength as we age. Our spinal discs lose flexibility due to the loss of fluid. This means that they do a less effective job of protecting the vertebrae. Just the fact of getting older can play a part in experiencing lower back pain.

If the ligaments or muscles in your back experience a sprain, spasm, or strain, the spinal discs can burst or bulge. This leads to increased pressure on your spinal cord nerves. Our back lets us know about this with the neural signals we know as pain. What are the causes of these strains, sprains and spasms? Frequently, this type of injury is caused by attempting to lift heavy objects or overstretching the muscles.

Lower back pain can also be caused by diseases like osteoporosis and arthritis. Other causes include disc or joint irritation, viral infections, or spinal abnormalities.

Lower back pain can also be caused by various physical conditions. This includes smoking, being overweight, pregnancy, stress, bad posture and being in poor shape. Hip pain and lower back pain sometimes come as a distressing package deal. Scar tissue from previous injuries can also be a cause of lower back pain – this scar tissue buildup can even cause other, more serious injuries.

When to Worry About Lower Back Pain

You should take your lower back pain seriously if it comes along with other symptoms. Watch out for weakness in the muscles, particularly in the legs, loss of bowel or bladder control, fever or coughing. If you experience any of these symptoms along with your lower back pain, see your doctor right away. They could point to a deeper problem such as a pinched nerve. If you suffer from diabetes, your back pain might be related to neuropathy.

Avoiding Lower Back Pain

By taking good care of your back in daily life, most lower back pain can be avoided. Recurring lower back pain can usually be traced to poor posture. There are ways to change this. Stand straight, remember to lift with your legs rather than with your back, and do exercises to build lower back strength. Make sure to follow proper ergonomic procedures during your workday. This can go a long way towards preventing lower back pain.