The Cause Of Lower Back Pain And The Agony It Breeds

The cause of lower back pain is a source of loss work time, agony in daily life and many times a bevy of tears that seem never ending.

Back pain is aggravating, irritating, frustrating and a source of pain that feels like none other. At times it can take your breath away.

The lower back is created from five vertebrae, the sacrum and the coccyx and is made up of the lower one third of the spine.

The lumbar vertebrae have an incredibly tough job of supporting all the upper body weight on their hourglass-shaped rings of bone.

The tail bone is made up of the coccyx and the sacrum and is located at the tail end of the spine. The sacrum is a group of bones which are fused together.

Think about all the pressure and weight that is exerted along the back line and it is rather easy to understand why lower back pain can be a prime location of agony.

There are many different reasons for back pain.

Some of which are caused by things in your control and others by things out of your control.

For example, things you can control include things such as poor posture and obesity, while things out of your control include a traumatic accident, an infection or even an exercise or sports injury.

As you age bones began to lose their strength and muscles begin to get less flexible, both of which predispose you to back pain as you age.

There are certain back conditions that can cause lower back pain, such as sciatica. This occurs when a ruptured or herniated disc pushes on the sciatic nerve.

When the disc puts pressure on the sciatic nerve it can cause shooting pains to race down one or both of your legs.

Spinal degeneration is another back condition associated with lower back pain.

In this condition, the general wear and tear of aging on the spinal discs lead to a narrowing of the spinal cord.

Associated with aging, spinal degeneration can leave you feeling stiff as a board in the morning and even in pain after you have been standing for prolonged periods of time.

A bulging disc, also known as a ruptured disc or a herniation, is caused by the discs located in between the vertebrae coming under too much pressure. This increasing pressure ultimately results in the cartilage pressing into the nerve roots and in the most severe of cases, into the spinal canal itself. This pressure causes severe lower back pain.

Quite commonly associated with aging, spinal arthritis is causes intermittent lower back pain. It can also cause you difficulty bending or walking. You may also experience weakness and numbness in your legs.

Back pain and aging seem to go hand in hand. But the goal is to find a physician who will listen to your concerns and your physical concerns.

No one should accept back pain as a result of aging. Don't give up on back pain relief without a fight!

Could Hamstring Muscle Injury Cause Back Pain

You often hear about athletes who are unable to play their sport due to a pulled hamstring. In fact, a pulled hamstring is one of the most common muscle pulls or muscle injury. Your hamstrings are a group of three muscles that help extend your legs at the hip and flex them at the knee. A pulled hamstring is a strain or tear in the muscles or tendons.

To understand what causes a hamstring injury you have to know how muscles work. All muscles work in pairs to perform a task. One set of muscles contracts to exert force while the other set of muscles relaxes. The hamstring muscles located at the back of the thigh, work with the quadriceps muscle group in the front of the thigh. When you want to bend your leg, the hamstring muscles contract and the quadriceps muscles relax. Conversely, when you want to straighten your leg, the quadriceps muscles contract and the hamstring muscles relax.

If one muscle group is considerably stronger than its opposing muscle group, the imbalance can lead to strain. This frequently happens with the hamstring muscles. The quadriceps muscles are usually much more powerful, so the hamstring can become fatigued faster. A fatigued muscle cannot relax as easily when its opposing muscle contracts, leading to strains.

Muscle strains are overuse injuries that result when the muscle is stretched without being properly warmed up. An injury to the hamstring is usually readily apparent. Mild strains may involve simple, uncomfortable tightening of the muscle. More severe injuries may result in a sharp pain in the back of the thigh, usually in full stride. A rupture or tear may leave you unable to stand or walk, muscles may be tender to the touch and painful to stretch your leg. Within a few days after a tear the area may appear very bruised.

Remember RICE and you will know the immediate treatment protocol for many sports related injuries, including hamstring pulls or strains:

R - Rest the affected area.

I - Ice the injury.

C - Compress the injury (apply a bandage or other compressive device).

E - Elevate the injury.

If the muscle is completely torn, surgery may be necessary to repair and reattach it. No treatment is complete without proper rehabilitation to strengthen and stretch the muscle.

The best way to prevent a hamstring injury is to warm up before activity and stretch after activity. Weak or tight hamstrings can contribute to low back pain, so doing exercises to strengthen and stretch the hamstrings may also reduce your risk of low back pain. Be sure to perform all strength training exercises in opposing muscle form. For example if you work the quadriceps be sure to also work the hamstrings. The best exercise to isolate these two muscle groups would be the Leg Press and the Leg Curl working the quadriceps and hamstrings respectively. If you feel your hamstring is the muscle with the imbalance be sure to work it a little harder by adding an extra set or more weight for your sets.

A good stretch is to sit down and straighten your left leg. The sole of your right foot should rest next to the inside of your straightened leg. Lean slightly forward and touch your foot with your fingers. Keep your left foot upright with the ankle and toes relaxed. Hold for 30 seconds, then repeat with the right leg.

An exercise program designed by your trainer at Any Body Fitness will be designed according to a muscle balance form. This design helps prevent injury. That is what we want!

Lower Back Pain Cause Tight Hamstrings

The hamstrings and the lower back are connected by the pelvis. The hamstring is composed of tendons and three muscles that run from the back of the knee to the back of the pelvis; this network is responsible for bending the knee behind the middle line of the body when the hip is extended (such as when running or walking). Via the hip connection, tight hamstrings can cause lower back pain.

When a muscle is tight, its length is shortened. This can occur in a number of ways. Overuse of the hamstring without stretching can cause it to be chronically tight. This is often accompanied by weak quadriceps and hip flexors such as the psoas, since the hamstrings will fail to relax and allow them to do work. Failure to stretch and exercise in a balanced manner can lead to this muscle imbalance. On the other hand, the opposite imbalance can cause the hamstring to tighten. If the hip flexors and quadriceps are overly tight, the hamstrings will be stretched and weak. Weak muscles can quickly experience fatigue due to their lack of strength. Fatigued muscles have a difficult time relaxing. If a weak hamstring does not relax when the quadricep contracts, it can become torn or pulled. This is a very common type of injury, especially in athletes.

Muscles work as a sort of pulley system; if they are not balanced in length, strength and flexibility, then any number of structures within the body may be pulled out of alignment. The hamstring muscles and hip extensors are intricately related; if one is tight, the other is bound to be tight also. If these are tight, the muscles performing the opposite functions - hip flexors and knee extensors (quads) -- will be weak and lengthened. Muscles of the upper legs and hips are a crucial part of pelvic stabilization. Since the pelvis is the base of the spine, pelvic stabilization is the foundation of spinal stabilization.

Shortened, tight hamstrings exert a downward pull on the pelvis. Since the quadriceps and hip flexors are long and weak, they cannot balance this force with an equal pull in the opposite direction. As the pelvis is pulled downward in the back, the lower back loses its natural arch (called lordosis). As the spine is forced to flatten, the discs between vertebrae experience increased pressure in the front, possibly leading to early disc degeneration.

The muscles of the lower back are also strained by tight hamstrings. The proper way to bend forward is at the hip joints. When the pelvis is pulled backward, however, you have to bend from the lower back. This type of work in unnatural for the lower back muscles, and can lead to chronic strain.

Because of the compensatory tendencies of tight muscles, it is necessary to loosen them before attempting exercise. While stretching is a good way to restore length and flexibility to tight muscles, a technique called self-myofascial release (SMR) is more effective and the best first step of treatment for tight hamstrings. In this technique, you use a dense foam roller to compress and loosen the hamstring, effectively turning it off so that other muscles can begin to work. See this video of hamstring SMR for a better idea: . As with any form of back pain exercise, it is best to be trained by a physical therapist in proper technique.

Once your hamstrings have been neutralized, you can move on to develop your quadricep and hip flexor muscles, which will help to stabilize your pelvis. Consult a physical therapist to assure that your exercise plan does not create the same or another painful imbalance. Educating yourself on how muscles work together will help protect you from back pain.