Lower Back Pain

What is Lower Back Pain?

Lower back pain can be either an acute (sudden and short term) or chronic (long-term and often getting progressively worse) disabling condition that affects many people at some stage in their life. Lower back pain can also be described as a symptom of many other conditions.

What Causes Lower Back Pain?

It can be caused by an injury or a form of trauma, like a sports injury, a car accident or a fall, which although seemingly unlinked, can be the cause of many problems or abnormalities in the lower back that result in pain.

Poor posture can be another cause, as can emotional stress, obesity, age and poor body mechanics such as lifting without bending the knees.

Lower back pain can be the result of damage to the soft tissue like muscles, ligaments and tendons due to an accident of some sort. Other causes can be particular conditions such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and degeneration of the discs between the vertebrae or cancer.

In summary, the possible causes of lower back pain can be categorised as mechanical, inflammatory, due to tumours, metabolic, referred pain from elsewhere, or can even be caused by depression.

What Treatment can you have for Lower Back Pain?

Things you can do yourself

  • Remain active by continuing your daily chores - recent research suggests that better outcomes are achieved if you retain a level of normal activity rather than apply complete rest, but you should not participate in any activities that may exacerbate the pain in your lower back
  • Maintain a healthy weight
  • Apply heat for example through hot baths and water bottles
  • Use of anti-inflammatory, pain re-leaving medicine (always seek advice from a medical professional)
  • Due to weak stomach muscles often being a cause, regular gentle stomach muscle exercise may make a big difference
  • Think about your posture
  • Avoid lifting heavy objects. If you need to lift heavy objects, do so properly and don’t strain.

Rehabilitation treatments

  • Physiotherapy
  • Gym based exercise programmes
  • Steroid injections
  • Chiropractic Manipulations
  • Acupuncture
  • Sports Massage
  • Ultrasound.

When to seek professional medical advice

  • Referred pain down the legs
  • Numbness and tingling down the legs or in your feet

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