What Causes Lower Back Pain – And What Can You Do About It?

About 80 percent of the population experiences back pain, frequently lower back pain, at some point in time. Because it’s an ailment that almost everyone experiences, you really need to understand what causes lower back pain. You also need to know how to control these factors to keep severe lower back pain to a minimum.

Causes of Lower Back Pain

As we age, we lose a lot of our body’s natural muscle tone and elasticity. We also tend to lose bone strength as we age. Our spinal discs lose flexibility due to the loss of fluid. This means that they do a less effective job of protecting the vertebrae. Simply growing older can be a cause of lower back pain.

A strain, sprain or spasm in your muscles or ligaments can result in the rupture of a spinal disc. This in turn places pressure on the nerves in your spinal cord. Our back lets us know about this with the neural signals we know as pain. So what causes your sprains, strains and spasms? Frequently, this type of injury is caused by attempting to lift heavy objects or overstretching the muscles.

Lower back pain can also be caused by diseases like osteoporosis and arthritis. There are also causes including viral infections, joint or disc irritation and spinal abnormalities.

Lifestyle factors can also be contributors to lower back pain. This includes smoking, being overweight, pregnancy, stress, bad posture and being in poor shape. Hip pain and lower back pain sometimes come as a distressing package deal. Scar tissue from previous injuries can also be a cause of lower back pain – this scar tissue buildup can even cause other, more serious injuries.

When to Worry About Lower Back Pain

You should take your lower back pain seriously if it comes along with other symptoms. Watch out for weakness in the muscles, particularly in the legs, loss of bowel or bladder control, fever or coughing. If you experience any of these symptoms along with your lower back pain, see your doctor right away. They may indicate a pinched nerve or other underlying problem. If you are diabetic, lower back pain may indicate neuropathy.

Avoiding Lower Back Pain

By paying attention to proper back pain management techniques, most lower back pain can be avoided. Poor posture is often the root cause of lower back pain that never quite goes away. You can work on correcting this. Try exercises to build up strength in your lower back, stand up straight, and don’t forget to use your legs to lift objects instead of your back. Be certain that you pay attention to workplace ergonomics while on the job. This will greatly impact your ability to prevent lower back pain.