Health blog Category: Back Pain
Back to Basics: Understanding Common Back Injuries and How to Prevent Them
Let’s delve into the common injuries that can plague your back and offer valuable tips to keep your spine strong and pain-free. Back pain is a prevalent issue that affects millions of people worldwide, often stemming from everyday activities or specific incidents. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the causes behind several back injuries including; herniated discs, lumbar strains, and sacroiliac joint dysfunction, providing insights on prevention and recovery.
Herniated/Bulging Disc:
This injury often happens when you put too much strain on your back, like lifting heavy objects incorrectly or sitting for long periods.
Read full blogLow Back Pain and Radiating Symptoms
Many people suffer from low back pain of varying levels and usually don’t take measures to resolve or work on it until the pain becomes debilitating on some level to where it becomes limiting in day to day activities.
There is also a common theme in today’s society where people feel going online and doing just a few minutes researching a topic; all of the sudden have gained enough knowledge about a that topic to be able to treat it.
Read full blogLow Back Pain Treatment
This pain can range anywhere from a mild nagging, to a severe pain that will greatly limit your mobility. You may feel very stiff, especially in the morning and find you have to change positions frequently to alleviate symptoms.
This pain can create difficulty with prolonged:
- Walking
- Standing
- Sleeping
- Bending
- Lifting
- Twisting
- Driving
Sources of Low Back Pain:
It can stem from many different sources in the spine.
Read full blogWhy the Spine Needs Discs
What are they and why do we need them?
To start, let’s talk about what these discs are. You may have heard the analogy that the discs in your back are like a jelly doughnut. The disc should be filled with fluid kind of like the strawberry jelly in one of these treats. The outer lining of the disc is made of up rings and then in the center, there is a jelly-like fluid.
Read full blog3 Lower Back Injuries
Lower back injuries and issues can occur from something as simple as twisting to grab something off of your shelf or as intense as falling off of a ladder. Let’s focus on a few common causes of back pain and back issues.
- Soft Tissue Injuries: Soft tissue injuries, sprains and strains, are the most common cause of low back pain. Sprains occur when damage is done to the ligaments, while strains occur from damage to the muscles or tendons in the back.
Lower Back Injuries in Specific Sports
Exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, and sports are one approach many people choose to use to get their exercise.
Lower Back Injury: The lower back is subject to a great deal of strain in many sports. Sports that use repetitive impact (e.g., running), a twisting motion (e.g. golf), or weight loading at the end of a range-of-motion (e.g., weightlifting) commonly cause damage to the lower back.
- Causes: A violent or jerking motion or an over-extension of the back muscles usually causes back muscle strains.
How to Prevent Injuries this Winter
With the winter weather here, there is usually that fear in the back of our minds that we are going to hurt our back or get injured. This can especially happen if in previous years you shoveled wrong and tweaked your back, shoulder or slipped on some black ice.
Fortunately, most of these injuries can be avoided if you prepare and understand the nature of the injury or know what to look out for!
Read full blogTreating Back Pain
Most of us will experience back pain of some sort during our lifetime. While back pain is prevalent in our society, it isn’t something you have to “live with”.
Causes
Back pain can be caused by multiple things depending on where the pain is in the spine, along with the type of pain you are experiencing. Some common causes of back pain are:
- Muscle weakness: muscles work together to help to coordinate proper movements.
Lower Back Problems Causing Discomfort
Lower back problems are very prevalent in our society and can greatly limit your ability to carry out daily tasks.
Unfortunately, many people think it is just something they have to “live with” so they try to push through the pain. BUT THAT IS NOT THE CASE!
Thankfully, physical therapy can be extremely beneficial for resolving lower back pain thus greatly improving your quality of life.
Symptoms
When it comes to this condition, the number one complaint is pain and stiffness localized to the lower back which gets worse when you stand, walk or are in one position for a prolonged period of time.
Read full blog3 Back Injuries You Can Experience
The back is comprised of the spine (24 vertebrae), nerves, and many muscles that help us function every day. There are many injuries that affect these structures and could lead to back pain and altered function.
Common Injuries:
- Spinal Stenosis: Narrowing of the spinal canal which puts pressure on the surrounding structures.
- Mechanism (cause):
- Degeneration caused by age
- Congenital
- Signs/Symptoms:
- Numbness/Tingling
- Muscle weakness
- Pain with walking or standing for long periods of time
- Mechanism (cause):
- Herniated Disc: A condition where the inside of a vertebral disc protrudes out into the spinal canal.
