Why Does My Lower Back Hurt?
Lacey Lower back pain is very common, and most people will experience some in their life at some point. Most cases of lower back pain are from injuries, but sometimes it can run deeper than that and be more concerning.
Possible Causes
Again most causes of lower back pain are due to injuries involving lifting heavy objects, but there is also a multitude of causes beyond injuries. Generally, people aged 30-50 will start to experience these as they get older and their body starts to change with age.
Sciatica is when a disc, usually herniated, presses against the sciatic nerve which connects the spine to the legs. Generally, this causes pain or burning sensations in the legs and lower back. There are many ways sciatica crops up, but the most common is injury or bone overgrowth.
Disc Injury happens when the cartilage surrounding discs in your spine push against the nerves running down your spine. This compresses the nerves and causes extreme pain. Usually, this injury happens after lifting a heavy object or twisting your back.
Spinal Stenosis happens when your spinal column narrows which then puts pressure on your spinal cord and nerves. It is almost always caused by a degradation of your discs which compresses nerves.
Degenerative Disc Disease is when the discs between your vertebrae wear down and become in-flexible. This leads to the vertebrae grinding against each other which is extremely painful. Most often this comes with old age, but it can also happen with people who do a lot of physical work.
Treatments
Most treatments involve some type of physical therapy or a period of rest. If resting isn’t working, MASJ offers a NEW online Posture Exercise that has treated and cured back pain. The Corrective Exercise Program is an app that allows you to upload photos and videos to our specialists. They assess your composition and give results on your posture or pain points. It’s all digital and confidential.
In the case of injuries, the best thing to do is to rest for a few days to let your body heal. The RICE method is very effective in this case as it stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation, so be sure to put ice and compression on the area that hurts and try to elevate it too. Otherwise, you’ll probably be looking at physical therapy doing things like stretching and strength exercises. Some of the easier stretches are child’s pose, knee-to-chest stretches, and cow-cat stretches.