Chronic Neck Pain: Key Causes You Need to Know for Neck and Back Pain Relief
December 12, 2009 by lulu
Filed under Neck Pain Conditions
In the United States alone, an estimated 31 million people suffer from back or neck pain at any given time, and better than 50% of Americans report at least some back pain each and every year! Statistics indicate that around one third of Americans over the age of 18 have visited the doctor with back pain complaints within the last five years!
These statistics beg the question:
“Why do our necks and backs hurt all the time”?
The answer proves to be multifaceted. We suffer from chronic neck and back pain for a plethora of reasons; not the least of which is the fact that we spend most of our time sitting on our rear ends!
When you lead a sedentary lifestyle, your muscles and surrounding tissues begin to disintegrate and can actually atrophy. When this occurs, any kind of activity can create strain that causes chronic back pain.
Your body depends on activity to remain healthy, but not just any activity, the right activity. You see, exercise helps to keep all the systems of your body working smoothly. That fact holds true for, not only your joints and muscles, but for your neurological and lymphatic systems as well.
Let’s take a look at some other contributing causes for your chronic back and neck pain. Secondary to injury comes nutritional forces that affect back pain.
That’s right, the foods you eat (and don’t eat) have a direct effect on your pain. Many people try to eliminate all fats from their diet, but you body actually needs some fat to work properly. Too little fat in your diet will manifest itself as chronic pain in various areas of the body, including the back and neck.
In addition to that, many people do their best to pack as much protein into their diet as possible. But did you know that consuming too much protein can contribute to the development of ketoacidosis, which is a harmful physiological process that breaks down tissue and contributes to arthritis and, you guessed it, chronic back and neck pain?!
Emotional strain can wreak havoc on your spine as well. Many people carry tension in their neck and back. If you’re among this group, you’re well aware of the fact that stress can manifest itself into chronic back pain.
The problems mentioned here are just drops in the bucket compared to the compiled list of factors that may be contributing to your pain. Essentially, your chronic back pain, your neck pain, your upper, lower, and middle back tension, your sciatica, and your aches in general can be directly contributed to a sedentary lifestyle, emotional strain, injury, and nutritional voids.
In short, everything you do can potentially contribute to your pain – on the flipside, everything you do can also contribute to your healing!
The good news is that there is hope for finding relief and help to get rid of your chronic back pain. So, if you’re interested in learning more about the exact causes your chronic back pain, and the best ways to eliminate that pain, a little time and effort can produce some awesome results.
After all, what could be more important than feeling great and living your life to the fullest as a result?
Related posts:
