Frequently Asked Questions about Lower back pain
October 23, 2009 by Back & Neck Pain Resources
Filed under Back Pain Conditions, Lower Back Pain
Did you know that one of the most often used reasons for sick leaves or disability time offs from work is lower back pain? Apparently, this musculoskeletal disorder is so prevalent that it nearly 80% of people would experience it at least in one point in their lives. In fact, you yourself may have already experienced it.
Despite this prevalence however, not many are truly able to understand the many things and nuances of lower back pain. That’s why they are shocked when they suddenly encounter this condition.
Here are some of the more frequent questions asked about Lower Back Pain. Hopefully, knowing the answers to them will help you be more prepared for it.
What is lower back pain?
Simply put, lower back pain is any pain that is felt in the lower back area of the person. The lower back pain may come from a variety of causes, but what usually happens is that the muscles of the back would have been sprained or strained.
You should note that lower back pain is usually classified by how long the pain lasts. There are three classifications, namely “acute” if it is less than 4 weeks), “sub acute if it takes 4–12 weeks, and chronic if it is greater than 12 weeks.
What are the usual causes of lower back pain?
There are various causes of lower back pain. You could classify them however into two.
The first classification would be trauma. Traumatic causes mean those that lower back pain happened because of a direct injury to the muscles in that area. This could be taking a fall while playing sports, slipping down the stairs, or whatever else that would cause you to hit your back muscles with a great force.
The other cause could be classified as muscle imbalances. Under this classification, you could consider the poor postures that you take due to work and other activities that would lead you to develop misalignments in the various part of your lower back. These misalignments would increase the wear and tear of the muscles and joints which could put pressure on the nerves, causing you pain.
What are the common treatments?
Common treatments for back pain would usually involve numbing the pain and waiting for the body to heal itself. There are various ways to do it such as cortisone shots, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and even topical creams.
Some doctors might prescribe surgery as a last option. However, these are usually for situations where back pain has more serious issues surrounding it.
What can I do to feel better now?
The best you can do to help prevent low back pain from occurring would be to implement some ways for you to avoid the two classifications of back pain.
First off, you should always take care of your back when engaging in physical activities. The next would be to try and strengthen your lower back muscles through proper exercise and therapy so that you would be able to avoid the misalignments that can cause people pain.
You should also try to have the proper posture in everything that you are doing, so that you would not develop conditions that can worsen the wear and tear of your lower back muscles.
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