Health blog Category: Back Pain
The Chain to Low Back Pain
How Much Does Back Pain Impact Us?
Chronic back pain and discomfort is a debilitating condition that will affect the majority of Americans at some point during their life. In fact, chronic back pain is one of the leading reasons people go to the doctor and employees miss work. Chronic back pain can make it difficult to walk, sit, drive, and perform routine activities such as laundry, and dishes; to name a few.
What are the symptoms of chronic back pain?
Read full blogTried and True Solution to Back Issues
Back issues often start when we feel that we have done too much, then later on or the next day we experience some aches or muscle soreness. While the discomfort usually goes away in a day or two, your body is telling you that there was straining and microscopic tearing of muscle tissue, causing inflammation. Microscopic tears and inflammation if allowed to occur repetitively can result in the potential for long term problems in the future.
Read full blogBack Pain and Back Strains
Low back pain is one of the most common issues seen in an outpatient physical therapy clinic and the vast majority of people will experience some form of back pain at least once throughout their life. There are many different causes of low back pain, but one common cause of back pain is due to muscle strain.
Defining a Strain
Muscle strains can occur to any muscle throughout the body.
Read full blogThe Low Back Pain Epidemic
Generalized back pain continues to be rampant in many parts of the US and world-wide and does not seem to be decreasing despite many calculated efforts to do so. This particular diagnosis, sadly, has many attributes that makes it very difficult to pinpoint an exact cause. There is a substantial amount of literature on treatments, effects, causes, specific diagnosis and ramifications that is available to anyone that suffers from this ailment. We all know this, but in the 21st century ‘sitting’ is the new ‘smoking.’ Generalized back pain is one of many negative effects from consistent sitting, but it is no mystery that these are strongly correlated.
Read full blogHandle Low Back Pain
Low back pain can affect our lives in many ways. It can prevent us from exercising, sleeping, working, and spending time with our families. Those four activities alone make up pretty much the entire day for a lot of us. So the question becomes, why aren’t we taking action to handle our pain?
Signs and Symptoms of Low Back Pain
Every individual experiences different signs and symptoms, however these are the most common:
- muscle tightness or spasms
- sharp or dull pain
- limited range of motion,
- stinging or burning pain that travels to the buttocks or thigh
- numbness and tingling
- difficulty sitting, standing, walking, or going up stairs
- pain that increases with prolonged activity
Common Causes
Lower back injuries can occur from something as simple as twisting to grab something off of a shelf to a more serious scenario like falling off of a ladder.
- Soft Tissue Injuries:
- Soft tissue injuries such as, sprains and strains, are the most common cause of lower back pain.
Eliminating Back Discomfort
Being plagued by discomfort, the inability to sleep, experiencing stiffness, or having difficulty with activities that we love, are often indicators of back injuries. Often back pain is a signal of issues up and down the chain. Your spine connects your upper body and your lower body so it is important that we seek out the proper care as soon as possible to prevent other issues and to improve our quality of life.
Common Causes of Back Pain or Discomfort:
- Poor Posture
- Weak Core Muscles
- Poor Mechanics
- Weak Gluteal Muscles
- Degeneration
The ‘Trickle-Down’ Effect
Like many conditions, when we have pain or discomfort in one area of the body, if we don’t handle it, it can start impacting another area of the body.
Read full blogAvoid Back Pain When Shoveling this Winter
With winter here and the chance of snow right around the corner, it is important to know the proper way to shovel, in order to prevent back and shoulder injuries – ones we see frequently after a big snow. The good news though is that lower back and shoulder pain can be easily prevented by using correct body mechanics.
Try these tips to keep your back pain-free:
- Choose the Right Shovel
- An ergonomic snow shovel will help take the stress off your back and make your snow shoveling a much easier task.
Get Rid of That Creeping Back Pain
Back pain can creep up on us after simply sitting too frequently and for long periods of time, after a bad night’s sleep, after strenuous activity such as repeated lifting, or after participating in leisurely sports. This could even prevent us from standing straight, and bending over to tie our shoes or do the laundry.
Signs and symptoms:
- Muscle ache
- Shooting or stabbing pain
- Pain that radiates down your leg
- Pain that worsens with bending, lifting, standing or walking
- Pain that improves with reclining
Some common causes:
- Muscle or Ligament Strain/Sprain
- Bulging or Ruptured Disc- (compression of the intervertebral discs resulting in bulge outward (herniation) or rupture
- Radiculopathy- compression, inflammation and/or injury to a spinal nerve root
- Arthritis
- Skeletal Injuries/Deformities
Why You Should Address Back Pain Right Away:
It is important to address the cause of your back pain when it starts.
Read full blogThe Importance of the Discs in Our Spines
What are They and Why do we Need Them?
You may have heard the analogy that the discs in your back are like a jelly doughnut. The outer lining of the disc is made of up rings and then in the center, there is a jelly-like fluid. When a disc is healthy, it is somewhat oval-shaped, the fluid is in the center of the disc and the rings are strong and thick.
Read full blogEnd the Vicious Cycle of Back Pain
Back discomfort can be debilitating for anyone experiencing it. Living with back pain often means being plagued by the inability to sleep, stiffness, and difficulty doing activities we love. This discomfort and pain impacts our ability to run, rock climb or hike, garden, walk the dog or play with our grandchildren. Back pain is something that can affects everyone from, young athletes, to active parents or older adults.
