Health and Fitness Help

Back pain is a common problem dissembling literally millions of people. It can lieu from minor, temporary pain, to sustained pain in different parts of the back, neck or shoulders or bear on the pinching of nerves, affecting the legs or arms.   The causes of back pain vary and can often be a blend of factors. Some of the factors known by practitioners are set out below that help to treat your own back.  

Sprains and Strains. An out-of-condition back or one with pre-existing problems is more susceptible to soft tissue injuries like sprains and strains. A sprain is a joint injury that involves stretching or tearing of the ligaments. A strainisan injury to muscle or tendons. Stretching a ligament or muscle too promptly can result in a tear. Excessive force and certain reiterative use may also damage muscles.  

Disc problems. The intervertebral discs are the cushions between our vertebrae. These discs dry out and harden with age, making them susceptible to injury. Common disc complaints involve the disc bulging (prolapse), herniating or even rupturing. Most disc problems rise up from sustained stress or injury and may be caused by back strain (such as when lifting).

 Muscle Imbalance and Poor Posture. Muscle imbalances often involve certain muscles losing their natural process and over-working or being under utilised. This can happen as a result of lifestyle stress and bad habits of body use over a sustained period. Muscle imbalance can lead to or work in tandem with bad posture to result in such back problems as chronic lower back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain orset shoulder.  

Emotional and Neuromuscular Causes. Sustained stress or emotional trauma can cause muscular tension to be held unconsciously in the body leading to back pain.  

Morphologicalproblems involving the spine can cause back pain. These include the following:

•      Scoliosis – an excessive sideways deform of either the pep pill or lower regions of the spine.
•      Kyphosis – sometimes referred to as “hunchback”, this is an excessive outward curve of the upper back.

Disease Diseases that can affect the spine and cause back pain include:

•      Ankylosing spondylitis – a disease that causes light in spinal joints and limb joints potentially leading to fusion of vertebrae
•      Arthritis – especially osteoarthritis, involves cartilage that normally cushions joints breaking down.
•      Osteoporosis – is a condition involving thinning of the bones. It unremarkably occurs in women after the menopause but can also affect men.
•      Sciatica – is nerve pain from the sciatic nerve, a nerve that runs from the spine through the buttock and down the back of the leg. Sciatica is often caused by a disc bulge or prolapse pressing on the spinal nerve. Other causes that prevents you to treat your own back can include a narrowing of the nerve tunnel between discs as a result of osteoarthritis.