Lower back pain is one of the most significant health problems affecting Americans today. Look at some quotes from the National Institutes of Health (NIH):

* Seventy to 85 percent of all people have back pain at some time in their life.

* Back pain is the most frequent cause of activity limitation in people younger than 45 years old.

“Nearly everyone has low back pain sometime. Men and women are equally affected. It occurs most often between ages 30 and 50, due in part to the aging process but also as a result of sedentary life styles with too little (sometimes punctuated by too much) exercise….”

These are pretty frightening statistics. Apparently, there are few people who haven’t felt the shot of electricity running from their foot right up into their lower back. Agony. Better than a TASER any day. And you would wonder what the medical profession is up to. These numbers represent a lot of suffering for you and me. And it means a lot of money lost to us because of time off work, inconvenience and treatments. I ask myself regularly, “why isn’t the government really behind getting an effective remedy for this epidemic?” For, if practically the whole population gets it, it is an epidemic.

This is a real puzzle for me. Especially since I managed to figure out how to get rid of mine myself. You probably don’t want a long winded story about my particular experience with back pain. My friendship with the back pain dragon would stretch over fifteen years with repeated bouts of strong pain keeping me off work and making life a misery. I was in a prison of suffering and misery. And the road to the cure started with a visit to a member of the medical profession - my dentist! But I’m getting ahead of myself here…

The pain of sciatica and lower back pain is depressing. If you are like me, you feel a great sense of fear that it will never be better again. Well you can breath a sigh of relief - it does get better. It can even disappear completely and you can be back to a normal pain free state in a short time. And what’s more you can stay in this healthy state. Instead of facing of facing a future where you are not in control and your pain is in control of you, you can find yourself back in control again. And this is the key - control.

Before I dive in, let me say I learned these techniques from my own experience with back pain. I’m aiming this at people who don’t have cancer or some other serious illness. For most of us that isn’t the reason we have chronic pain in the lower back. And now I’ll tell you about my trip to the dentist. He’s not really a butcher, but he doesn’t like giving his patients painkilling injections “unnecessarily”. His explanations about the ill effects of novocaine and the fact my wife has known him so long make me put up with it.

So, there I am sitting back in the hot seat, waiting for the drilling to commence. And an article which I’d read about research carried out at the University of Turin, Italy a couple of years ago came to mind. It was all about pain, morphine and the placebo effect. The problem of lower back pain has to be approached in two ways or on two levels. This is because there are two causes for chronic pain. They are the amount of stimulation which the nerves experience and for how long. And the responses the brain learns to the pain. The researchers discovered that the brain can manufacture its own pain killers.

So back in the dentist’s chair, I simply told my lower brain to switch off the pain signals. Simply repeating the message over and over led to my hardly feeling a thing, while my friend drilled holes in four of my front teeth! That’s how I deal with back pain. When I feel it coming on, I start instructing my brain to switch off the nerves and reject the message. Try it yourself and see!

c James Barrington 2009

http://www.thestrongbackbook.com/

Unfortunately, most back pain sufferers don’t know that lower back stretches is beneficial for back pain and is something that everyone should educate themselves on at some point in their lives because odds are, everyone will experience back pain at some point in their lives. Sometimes no matter how well we know the right and wrong ways to lifting objects, the unexpected happens. Car accidents and the like are often out of our control, after all.

If your having lower back pain, then muscle relaxers aren’t going to do you any good. The biggest problem when taking any medication is it really never helps to treat the main cause of the situation. They just mask it enough to let us get through each day. Obviously, without fixing the problem itself, a person will continue to have to live with back pain unless they visit a chiropractor who is experienced with back stretching exercises in treating this problem.

There are many ways of assisting with lower back pain with one of them being back strengthening exercises including lower back stretches. These methods can be far more effective than medication.

First, It’s a natural way to treat the problem. Your not taking any medications or relying on anyone to assist you with your problem. It is only you and your body working together in treating the pain. Because it is all natural, you do not have to be concerned about side affects when taking medication.

Another clear benefit of doing a stretching exercise for lower back pain is it can help prevent future injuries. How many different medications can boast that claim? When working on giving your back muscles more strength your also reducing the chances of injuring them with the many stresses we give our backs on a daily basis. You are also keeping your muscles limber and flexible which allows them to extend and flex whenever and however you need them to.

Lower back stretches do not only help you strengthen your back, it also helps the rest of your body as well. When you keep up with your daily exercises you will be helping your entire cardiovascular system. You become a healthier and better fit person. Staying fit and in shape helps keep your immune system strong and helps keep you back muscles from causing pain.

It is in your best interest to staying active and healthy. Lower back stretches not only helps your back, but keeps you healthy as well.

Lower back pain is one of the most common and frustrating body ailments a lot of people has been exposed to. Knowing its cause is like being trapped in an upsetting puzzle due to the difficulty to trace the actual cause of the condition given that there are a lot of possible factors. Needless to say, you still have every reason to know a thing or two about the common lower back pain causes.

If your back pain started gradually, got worse and seemed unrelated to your level of activity, chances are lower back pain causes could be quite serious. You may have a problem with your spine, a collapse of your vertebrae, an infection, cancer or tuberculosis. Rare conditions that also trigger persistent lower back pain are shingles, congenital spinal defects, prostatitis-linked condition, fibromyalgia-linked condition, or any bone diseases. The reason why the different muscle groups inside our body work less smoother than before when we age is that an imbalance has been put into work. While one muscle gets stronger, the opposing muscle tends to get weaker. The consequence is that our joints, bones and spine are pulled. This activity also forces our body to work in a dysfunctional way, placing uneven and excessive strain and wear and tear on our spinal discs, cartilage, bones, tendons, ligaments and muscles.

Ligament and muscle strains and sprains fall under the long list of lower back pain causes. Strains and sprains are the result of exercising, lifting or moving in an miscalculated way, such as what happens when you fall or trip or get in a car accident.

When a lower back pain is due to your exercise, the condition is typically called the ‘Weight lifter’s Back’ or Lumbar Strain. This is common to happen when you are swinging a club in golf, swinging a bat in baseball, turning suddenly to dribble after a rebound in basketball, pushing against an opposing lineman in football or snatching a heavy weight from the ground in weight lifting.

Pain is usually and commonly felt in the back but many can also experience pain in certain parts such as in the toes, feet, calves, thighs, or buttocks. The reason behind this is that when you have lower back pain, irritation from the sciatic nerve may tend to run down your legs. Weakness and numbness, along with pins and needles, are then felt.

There are also factors that may cause your lower back to be easily injured. Some of them are as follows:

* supporting muscles of the back is not strong

* the physical conditioning is poor

* poor posture

* being overweight

* lifting things, especially those that are heavy, improperly

* being tired

Other lower back pain causes:

* slouching in chairs

* coughing

* driving for long periods without a break

* driving in slouched or hunched position

* over-stretching

* sneezing

* bending awkwardly

* bending down or standing for long periods of time

* pushing, lifting or carrying heavy things incorrectly

* muscle-tension

* stress-related tension

* pregnancy

* gynecological problems (exclusive in women) such as pelvic inflammatory disease

* viral infections

* different types of arthritis such as osteoarthritis

* bone disorders

* osteoporosis

* bladder and kidney infections

* a fall

* a trip

* lack of exercise

* injury or trauma such as a fracture

* sleep disorder

Strain on the back muscles as well as improper use and over use are common causes of pain. Injury of ligaments and inter-vertebral discs can be a major contribution to lower back pains. Such damage aggravates the pain already being felt on the lower back and may approach chronic levels if it is not immediately remedied. Damage to the soft tissues and ligaments that make up the internal environment that is the lower back may result in one being prone to frequent back aches. These are not pleasant episodes and one should know the methods of combating such aches.?

Causes of lower back pains may on occasion be the cumulative effect of a number of symptoms. These when added up cost the back ache patient their comfort. Immediate results include adopting typical measures to avoid the pain. This includes taking an awkward manner of walking to try to reduce the amount of strain already exerted on certain back muscles. The back muscles are saved from discomfort but the patient takes up to bad posturing thus indicating a flawed body system. Preventative measures taken before the onset of such a condition can go a long way in conditioning the muscle to a healthy disposition.?

Injury on facet and sacroiliac joints is lesser known among the causes of lower back pain. However, it is no less destructive than the common causes. Nerves?located in this region?are also damaged by improper lifting during sports exercises and use of machines. Severe pressure and strain to the soft muscles in this body region may result in irritation to the lower back. Osteoarthritis, prevalent with age costs the old folk their joints. The degeneration of these body parts is one of the serious causes of lower back pains. The convalescent is therefore given to taking up a marked walking style so as to decrease the level of strain exerted on their muscles.?

Vertebrae defects are also causes of back pains and lead to the individual experiencing pain. In this condition, when the vertebrae slide over each other the convalescent is caused a lot of pain. Spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis are the specialized terms used to refer to this condition. ?

Certain spinal defects may be the result of defects from age or accidents in which the patient has involved at any time in their past. Compression of the muscle for example, caused by dropping on?the head or on the buttocks is one of the causes of lower back pains. Age may also come with its own natural causes of aggravated spinal discomfort. This includes the contraction of the spinal column which results in stiffness of the back. ?

Corticosteroids may also lead up to one experiencing compression fractures. These drugs cause side effects such as osteoporosis whose severity may lead to chronic back ache with old age. Therefore even small amounts of force applied to the spinal column may result in one experiencing serious pain. Such force includes vibration caused by sneezing.

In the world in which we live-a world of hectic lifestyles, unhealthy eating habits, lack of regular exercise and poor posture, pain in the lower back has come to be one of the most common ailments affecting people. There are many potential lower back pain remedies available for those suffering with pain in the lower back and sciatica. As with most health problems, successful remedies for do not involve quick fixes. Fortunately, there are many different remedies from which to choose that can relieve your pain and improve your mobility and quality of life. These remedies may include but are not limited to applying ice and heat, bed rest, exercise, medications, spinal manipulation, biofeedback, physical therapy, and surgery.

Many lower back pain remedies concentrate on breathing and relaxation, which not only work the muscles, but can relieve stress. Rest is one of the most effective remedies. Exercise is also one of the most common back pain solutions recommended by doctors. In most cases, it is possible to treat acute pain in the lower back with over-the-counter medications. Taking over-the-counter pain relievers and resting can help short-term, but these should never be substituted for long-term back pain remedies.

Traditional pain remedies may involve powerful painkillers and bed rest. Of course you can also take muscle relaxants as part of your treatment, but remember that pain killers and muscle relaxants don’t always address the actual cause of your back discomfort. Any effective pain remedies should address the actual cause of the pain rather than just mask it with pain killers.

Many people nowadays are shifting to natural pain remedies hoping to get some relief from their symptoms without the risks associated with taking over-the-counter or prescription drugs. Chiropractic therapy does so without drugs or medicine while still providing joint, head, and back pain relief that really work. Inversion therapy has been used to help sufferers of back pain as one of the most successful all-natural low back pain remedies by allowing gravity to do its work.

Traditional Chinese medicine, with its 2500 year old history, offers many remedies for pain - lower back stretches, lower back strengthening exercises, massage techniques, acupuncture, herbal remedies, liniments, sticking plasters and others. Acupuncture can significantly reduce pain in the back and serve as a great option when you try to find remedies for any type of pain.

If these treatment options don’t seem to be working, you should consult your family physician, who may refer you to a specialist. Remedies for lower back pain and for nerve discomfort include taking anticonvulsants to relax the nerve, and interventional therapy can be used to block nerve pain by injecting steroids or local anesthetics into the area that is inflamed. Your physician may also prescribe some various types of physical therapy to help ease your discomfort. In the end, by knowing your options and maybe even employing more than one of the lower back pain remedies available, you may save yourself a lot of pain and discomfort.

When one is suffering from back pain, there are many different types of treatments to consider, among those being heat therapy. Heat treatments and/or heat therapy products can help relieve pain from the muscle spasms and related stiffness in the lower back by dilating the blood vessels of the muscles surrounding the lumbar spine.

Consequently, there will be a decrease in stiffness as well as injury, with an increase in flexibility and overall feeling of comfort. Therapy with heat also creates higher superficial tissue temperatures, which aids the healing process in some conditions. In applying this therapy, the best temperature is warm; too hot can create burning of the skin and will do little to increase pain relief.

For many people, heat treatments work best when combined with physical therapy and/or exercise. This type of therapy is appealing to many people because it is a non-invasive and non-medicinal form of lower back pain relief. However, therapy with heat can be used in conjunction with other pain relievers, such as over-the-counter pills. While ice therapy is most helpful during the first two days following a muscle injury, heat therapy is more important to the healing process afterward.

Heat therapy for lower back pain can be achieved in the form of warm/hot baths, hot tubs or saunas, as well as several dry or moist heat therapy products such as heating pads, heat wraps, heat inducing creams and warm gel packs which can also provide relief. There are several different brands of cordless heated back wraps on the market which can provide up to six hours of deep-penetrating heat to relieve sore, stiff muscles and joints without requiring proximity to an ac outlet, therefore allowing you to go about your daily activities.

Heat therapy is just one of the many treatments available for lower back pain. It is an option you should explore when you do suffer from back pain or other ailments. As always, it is a good idea to consult with your family physician before trying any of these treatments.

WHEELING, W.Va., May 11 — Acupuncture was more effective than conventional treatment for relieving lower back pain in a randomized trial, but performed no better than poking patients gently with toothpicks.

Roland-Morris Dysfunction Questionnaire scores improved by a mean of 4.4 to 4.5 points with genuine acupuncture compared with a 2.1 point improvement with “usual care” (P<0.001), typically consisting of drugs and physical therapy, according to Daniel C. Cherkin, Ph.D., of the Center for Health Studies in Seattle, and colleagues.

Yet patients receiving the simulated acupuncture also showed mean improvement of 4.4 points, the researchers reported in the May 11 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

• Explain to interested patients that controlled trials have demonstrated benefit from acupuncture for certain types of chronic pain compared with conventional treatment, but a placebo effect may account for the finding.
• Explain that this trial used a novel comparison treatment in which needles were not inserted but may still have stimulated acupuncture points.

They concluded that the study supports a therapeutic benefit for acupuncture-point stimulation. But Dr. Cherkin and colleagues said the findings also “raise questions about acupuncture’s purported mechanisms of action.”

The study randomized 638 patients with chronic lower back pain to four treatments: individualized acupuncture, in which experienced acupuncturists determined needle placements for each patient according to their clinical judgment; standardized acupuncture in which eight needles were placed at points established in traditional Chinese medicine as appropriate for lower back pain; usual care; and the simulated acupuncture procedure.

The simulation involved placing a small guide tube against the eight standard acupuncture points and using a toothpick to gently tap and twist against the skin. Dr. Cherkin and colleagues said the sensation is similar to an actual needle insertion but does not break the skin. The procedure was done twice, 10 minutes apart, to simulate needle insertion followed by withdrawal.

Patients in all groups except usual care wore eye masks and their heads were placed in face cradles, blinding them — literally — to the specific mode of treatment.

Treatments lasted seven weeks with the primary evaluation conducted at week eight. Additional follow-ups were performed at weeks 26 and 52.

Mean age of patients was 47, 62% were female, and 68% were white, about two-thirds reported chronic pain for at least one year, and a similar fraction reported medication use in the previous week. Less than a quarter, however, said they had reduced activity or stayed in bed for significant periods recently because of back pain.

On a 10-point scale, the mean expectation that acupuncture would be helpful was 6.7.

Mean Roland-Morris scores at baseline were 10.6 (SD 5.2).

Improvements seen at eight weeks were largely maintained at the later follow-ups. In the case of usual care, an additional one-point improvement over week eight scores was found at week 52, although the total improvement relative to baseline remained smaller than was seen with the three acupuncture-type treatments (P=0.001 after adjusting for age, sex, and baseline score).

Patients in all treatment groups, including usual care, also rated their back pain as significantly less bothersome at weeks eight and 26, but not at the one-year evaluation.

Again, more improvement was seen in the three acupuncture-type groups than with usual care. And again, the simulated procedure seemed just as effective as the two treatments in which needles were used.

Dr. Cherkin and colleagues said the findings echoed those of other trials that found equal efficacy with acupuncture and some kind of sham procedure, with either outperforming usual care. (See Acupuncture Works for Headache But So Does Fake Needling)

They said this could reflect some kind of placebo effect. Or, they speculated, “superficial acupuncture point stimulation directly stimulates physiological processes that ultimately lead to improved pain and function.”

The latter possibility has been supported in earlier studies, including one demonstrating that light touch stimulates “mechanoreceptors” that in turn induce hormonal and emotional reactions related to pain.

Regardless of the mechanism, though, Dr. Cherkin and colleagues said it now appears clear that acupuncture and other similar treatments can be more effective than conventional therapy for lower back pain, especially when ordinary treatment has failed.

“Furthermore, the reduction in long-term exposure to the potential adverse effects of medications is an important benefit that may enhance the safety of conventional medical care,” they wrote.

Primary source: Archives of Internal Medicine

Source reference:

Cherkin D, et al “A randomized trial comparing acupuncture, simulated acupuncture, and usual care for chronic low back pain” Arch Intern Med 2009; 169: 858-66.

Related Article(s):

• Acupuncture Works for Headache But So Does Fake Needling

I often get some lower back pain while doing bicep curls. I don’t want to stop doing them altogether. Are there any alterations I can make to take the lower back out of the equation?

There are some things you can try, but it’s important to note that while using specific training “tricks of the trade” may help you train around your lower-back discomfort, you also need to know the specific cause of the pain. The cause could be something as simple as sloppy form on your lifts, which is correctable by not swinging the weights and further improving your form. However, the source of the pain may also be something medical related which could require the assistance of a good sports medicine physician. It’s probably a good idea to rule out any musculoskeletal problems first.

With that said, here are a few exercise strategies to try. The first exercise is kneeling dumbbell curls. Simply perform dumbbell curls while kneeling on a towel or mat, ensuring your glutes are resting on the backs of your ankles. This position facilitates the use of proper form, thus helping you keep your back out of the movement.

The second exercise is lying cable curls. Find a low-pulley machine and attach one of those short-handled revolving bars to it. Lie down in front of the weight stack with your feet positioned on the frame in front of the pulley. While keeping your upper arms glued to your trunk, curl the bar as you would if you were doing the movement while standing. Try to keep your shoulder involvement to a minimum in order to maximize the resistance on your elbow flexors (e.g., biceps).

People who are experiencing back pain should be exercising more. This is what a study suggests.

A study, which was conducted in the University of Alberta, had 240 subjects consisting of men and women who are suffering from chronic lower back pain. The study showed that those who exercised four days a week had a better quality of life, experiencing 28% less pain and 36% less disability, compared to those who visit the gym for two to three days a week.

According to researchers, back pain can hinder people from exercising; however, findings of the study show that lifting weights or working out for four days or more provides a great deal of pain relief and a good quality of life.

It is expected for people who are experiencing pain to stay in bed and not to move around. However, that action will result to further loss of mobility and will also prolong the pain. Therefore, experts recommend that those who are suffering from low back pain should continue to stay active. Staying active means doing day to day activities and avoid becoming sedentary. It is also recommended to undergo training programs or exercises which will be done every day on a regular basis. This is to help in maintaining an optimum blood circulation.

There are also special back exercises that can be done in order to relieve back ache. These active back exercises help in distributing nutrients to the disc spaces and soft tissues in the back so that the muscles and joints will remain healthy. ?If these exercises are done regularly, it can help in preventing stiffness, weakness, and occurrence of low back pain.

Stretching should also be included in your exercises because it can help in gaining and maintaining mobility and flexibility. People who have chronic back pain may find it weeks or months of stretching to be able to mobilize the spine and the soft tissues, but they will also find that sustained relief of low back pain follows the increase in motion experienced through back exercises and stretching.

It can happen to anyone at anytime. You will be sitting at your desk working away when suddenly; you feel a dull ache spreading across in your lower back. What do you do? More often than not, you will probably keep working and try to ignore it. Or if it gets worse, you may get up for a quick stretch and a quick walk around - hoping that will do the trick.

It is highly likely that in our lifetime, we will all experience some degree of lower back pain. About 70 per cent of adults have back pain at some stage of their lives. Unfortunately there is no magic pill to cure lower back pain but exercising for a strong healthy back can be a preventative measure, which makes it a must for all adults.

What causes the pain?

Because there are so many factors and things which can be the culprit of lower back pain, it is not always easy to diagnose the cause. Most cases however, tend to be triggered by a combination of overuse, muscle strain and injury to ligaments, discs and muscle tissue.

Sitting for prolonged periods of time as is common in our modern day lives can cause lower back pain, too. When you sit at your desk, for example, your pelvis rotates backwards which flattens your normally curved lumbar sine and increases the load through your vertebrae. And as you hunch forward towards the computer screen, the muscles deep in your back shrink, your abdominal muscles shorten and your outer back muscles overstretch, weaken and become vulnerable to injury.

Small wonder many experts believe that spending long stretches of time sitting at a desk or any type of chair for that matter can have a big impact on the spine’s normal structure and the development of lower back pain. Sitting for hours each day is a recipe for a troublesome lower back unless you take action and get it strong.

How to get pain relief

When you have a stiff and aching back, bed rest may seem to be the most attractive option, but research has shown this isn’t the case. In fact, staying immobile may lead to a longer period of rehabilitation, a higher intensity of pain and a stronger likelihood of disability.

The best way to relieve back pain is the opposite of bed rest: proper exercise!

But a healthy lower back requires more than just strong back muscles - you need strong muscles in your torso and pelvis as well. When you have good core strength, muscles in your pelvis, lower back, hips and abdomen work together in harmony, helping to protect and stabilize the spine.

If you have back pain see a fitness professional who can work with you to strengthen your whole body so your back is strong and resilient and can handle a seated work situation. Sitting in a chair for long period does nothing to keep your back strong so you need to perform your strength training program 2-3 times each week for a pain free back.