Low Back Pain

A Closer Look at Misconceptions and Helpful Strategies to Back Pain Treatment

There are thirty one million Americans who experience low back pain at any given time according to the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), and we spend more than $50 billion each year on back pain treatments of all types.

When you ask the experts what causes back pain, they will tell you all kinds of different factors ranging from weak back muscles, obesity, strained muscles or sprained ligaments, and cracked disks which can lead to back pain.

Other factors can cause back problems like trauma from car accidents, sports injuries, other serious collisions, and rare cases that occur from pathological causes.

But if you read carefully about some of the above causes beside the trauma and the rare deformities that people are born with there are reasons behind the other causes and some factors don't make a strong case. Let's go over them by taking a closer look.

If you study or have enough interest in learning about the human body in terms of the musculature system and posture like I did and still do, you'll find things will start to surface, and like other aspects in life become clearer.

In our present time we have postural problems that cause pain to our bodies and make our lives less pleasurable. I suspect the number is higher than the 31 million people who experience low back pain because they have not applied common sense.

And what I see everyday tells me also there is an untold number of "who knows" of undocumented cases to be included in the statistics.

Weak Back Muscles...Don't think So!

Whoever experienced some kind of physical trauma knows that in most cases the body has a remarkable ability to heal itself and return back to normal. But where the body can have a difficult time trying to heal itself is when we do not give it a chance to do that.

Low back pain can be from weak back muscles, but not always, and may not even be the dominant cause. In this article I will talk about one reason to make the reading less complicated, avoid confusing you, and then prevent you from quitting since the pain will still be there.

This way the low back pain sufferer can pinpoint the location of the pain then do something about it other than surgery.

Strong and short low back muscles (these are called back extensors and they pull upward) in many cases; and they are what are known as "weak low back muscles" which can be the reason behind your discomfort and pain.

To know if you have strong and maybe short/tight low back muscles is to look sideways and observe the small of your back which has an abnormal deep arch or curvature which is called lordosis where the lumbar spine is hyperextended.

The lordosis misalignment happens because your muscles in your back are stronger than your abdominal muscles (rectus abdominis or six-abs) in the front; therefore, there is an imbalance where one group of muscles are becoming more dominant.

Think of it this way, a "tug of war" game and you have both sides which are evenly strong and the rope is staying in the middle not moving to any side. The back of your spine muscles and front muscles are mainly abdominal and probably external oblique muscles should have an equal pull on your pelvis so it can remain in its neutral position where there is no forward tip (lordosis) and neither backward tip (flat-back).

Low Back Pain...Where is it Coming From?

Mainly there are two common pain sources that can make your life very uncomfortable:

1- Too much pressure on the bony structure like the vertebrae

And

2- Too much tension on muscles and ligaments like the low back muscles and sacroiliac ligaments.

This constant bone compression and muscles and ligament tension can eventually create the discomfort and pain.

What Can You Do About It?

First of all, you must see for yourself if you have hyperextension at the lower back (lordosis) and you can do that by standing sideways front of the mirror and see if you have an excessive low back arch, it should be fairly easy to recognize it.

And if you can't tell, then make an appointment with a good chiropractor or physical therapist to do a postural assessment/ examination to find out if you have lordosis posture and other related postural issues along the way.

If you have lordosis, then most likely you have weak abdominal muscles, and too strong and maybe short low back muscles too. Here is what you should do for back pain treatment...

- Strengthen your abdominal muscles and NOT you low back muscles.

- Stretch your low back muscles if you think they are tight (in many situations they are can be tight/short)

- If you are in too much pain during sitting or even laying down on your back, try using a folded towel which can usually bring comfort

- See for yourself if standing can bring relief, and if it does, try not to sit for a long time at one setting.

- In many situations laying down on a firm bed surface can minimize the pain or even diminish it especially if you are using a folded towel to support the low back area (depends on how excessive your low back is hyperextended).

Wrap Up

The most important thing for you is to do something about your lower back pain NOW. If you know that you have lordosis posture then implement the above guidelines for a few weeks (performing those instructions every day) and observe any improvement.

If you are not sure what kind of misalignment you have then go to a qualified physician and let them do an assessment on your posture and make sure you know what specifically you have in terms of postural problems.

Then follow their recommended exercises and stretches. Being physically active is important but you must fix your misaligned posture first, and the reason I am saying this is because becoming active alone will most likely not eliminate your low back pain because it does not specifically target the postural problems you are having.

In my next article I will talk about the other muscles that can cause hyperextension (lordosis).