What Is The Real Reason Behind Lower Back Pain?

Lower back pain is more common than you might think. With the huge industry of office jobs, it’s no wonder that lower back pain is running rampant among those who spend the majority of their day working at a desk.

The lower back is also known as the lumbar spine[1]. It’s a part of your body that is very complex and sensitive to discomfort. This pivotal location of your spine is what supports you and helps have correct posture, flexibility, and even helps to balance your strength in your core.

In this article we’ll be focusing on what causes lower back pain in your lumbar spine, also how you can work to improve and avoid this pain from happening in the first place. While everyone is different and your pain might be drastically different. It’s important to know that through this guide you’ll have a much greater understanding of what you can do to help your back.

You have an understanding when it comes to prevention as well as avoiding the issue all together. We hope that this newly discovered understanding of what really occurs when talking about chronic pain in your lower back will help you live a better life full of health and well being.

What is the Lumbar Spine?

The lumbar spine is the lower back[2], it’s a section of spine that acts as the main support when it comes to the upper body. This also will help any kind of flexibility as well, anything from ballet to yoga. The muscles surrounding the lumbar spine are also most used when walking because of the hip rotation.

The nerves located in this area are very strong and sensitive, they can pick up signals from the legs, hips, pelvis, and even your feet. This makes your lower back quite active when it comes to the things it will feel as you go about your day. It can sense anything that occurs to it, big or small, but it continues to push forward.

Because of how many nerves there are, when you feel pain in your lower back, sometimes it can be a bit confusing because of the brain getting mixed signals. So for example, if your messed up a muscle from stretching that can feel as painful as you pulling a disc. It really is a unique situation because of this, but it’s not hard to imagine this occurring whatsoever.

When you experience a lower back injury, it’s very common for this, no matter how small or large, to cause a very strong inflammatory response, which heals the area over time. But when this is occurring, it can cause some serious pain.

What are the Symptoms of Lower Back Pain?

When looking at the symptoms of lower back pain it can vary a huge amount. It can be anything from slightly annoying to feeling like you can’t even move. On top of the huge spectrum of pain, you can also have some special cases where it builds over time and gets much worse as time continues to go on, sometimes even vanishing, only to come back a few days later.

Of course it will be different for everyone, but we’ve listed below some of the most common ways people experience pain in their lower back. These symptoms are harsh and can really ruin someone’s day:

• A simple pain that is faint but always there, this is only felt in the lower back, no where else.
• A harsh stinging sensation that exists within the lower back and legs. This can also lead to a form of numbness as well.
• Tight muscle spasms that exist in the lower back and hips.
• Pain that exists mostly when in one position or another, such as sitting too long or even standing for a long period of time.
• Problems with standing or switching between a seated position and a standing one.

There are also many different levels of pain that go as follows:

Acute Pain, is the kind of pain that only will last for a couple of days, this is common and quite normal.

Subacute Pain, this pain will literally last for months on end, it’s frustrating and can limit what people are able to do.

Chronic Pain, this pain is around longer than just a few months. There are no real treatments to get rid of this issue in a fast way at this point.

What are the Solutions for Chronic Pain?

There are some ways you can prevent and turn around the early stages of lower back pain[3]. Below we’ve gone through a list of different ways you can change your lifestyle for the better so you can be pain free and active.

1. Rest

By taking time to rest, in just a few days you should be feeling better to some degree. When you rest though, be sure to try and stretch and move around a small amount so you can keep healing, but you’re also being active in small ways. When you are still for too long, longer than a few days, you won’t be able to heal properly. You have to find the balance.

2. Modify Workouts

A great way to keep being active without making your back pain worse[4], is to modify your daily workouts. Whether that means you’re going to go for a small walk at work or just doing an extra chore, it helps.

3. Heat & Ice

Relaxing your tense muscles are a must if you want to avoid inflammation. This is great if you feel like you’ve been experiencing swelling.

4. Pain Medication

OTC medications that help to reduce pain are ideal if you have no other choice. This is a great option for those who want to really focus on healing and feeling better over time.

Conclusion

Overall, back pain is not something that is fun to experience, but there are simple changes you can make to overcome it as well. You don’t have to jump to conclusions, just speak to your doctor and see what works the best for you!