Lower Back Pain, What Happened?
In most cases lower back pain develops over time.
Let's understand the muscles that play a role first. We've already talked about the hip flexor previously. If you look at a person from the side, you would find the hip flexor attached to the top of the upper leg bone and then it attaches to the pelvis bone and the vertebrae of the lumbar spine. The muscles that build the hip flexor are called Psoas and Iliacus- see pic.
You also have the big abdominal muscles running along between the hip and rib cage- the rectus abdominis. You can see the two muscles in the picture below.
Let's understand the muscles that play a role first. We've already talked about the hip flexor previously. If you look at a person from the side, you would find the hip flexor attached to the top of the upper leg bone and then it attaches to the pelvis bone and the vertebrae of the lumbar spine. The muscles that build the hip flexor are called Psoas and Iliacus- see pic.
You also have the big abdominal muscles running along between the hip and rib cage- the rectus abdominis. You can see the two muscles in the picture below.
In the lower back area, you have the lower back muscles and the gluts who counteract the movement of the front muscles. (not shown in the pic)
These two muscle groups (abs/hip flexors and gluts/lower back muscles) should keep everything in balance, they play together to keep everything moving. If you bend forward, the back muscles have to lengthen and if you stand up or bend backwards it be reversed.
What happens now to the system when you get lower back pain?
When we sit too much, sometimes 10-12 hrs per day, you will find that the front muscles, the hip flexors and abs will be shortened all the time and the back muscles will end up with a build up of pressure on them. That happens because the apbs and hip flexors pull you forward- the pressure increases towards the forward direction and that in turns means more pressure will end up on the back muscles to keep you from becoming bend or even falling forward. The balance will become out of sync basically.
The building up pressure will put more force on the discs between the vertebrae. Healthy discs are there to buffer the movement of the spinal bones, they are meant to be compressed and released, that is the way the take up nutrients, a bit like a sponge.
The more pressure builds the more this action is disabled and the discs become smaller, flat or, in an unfortunate situation can even burst open- this would then be called a collapsed disc.
But even before this happens- the build up pressure between these muscle groups will already send signals to the brain to fire some discomfort, stiffness and pain so you are alerted that a potential worse problem can happen.
Now, taking a pain tablet would be ok, if you need to survive the weekend, but you should not try and "fix" the problem with taking regular pain meds. Usually the problem just worsens over time. It is better to start changing things, coming for massage, doing some exercises, doing stretches and applying heat to try and relax some of this build up tension in the muscles. You can also try a stand-up desk or standing up more when taking a phone call. Walk to your colleagues instead of sending an email. Walk and get a water instead of having a water bottle ready at your desk. Just get up more frequently.
Here are some stretches you can try to relieve some of the tension:
These two muscle groups (abs/hip flexors and gluts/lower back muscles) should keep everything in balance, they play together to keep everything moving. If you bend forward, the back muscles have to lengthen and if you stand up or bend backwards it be reversed.
What happens now to the system when you get lower back pain?
When we sit too much, sometimes 10-12 hrs per day, you will find that the front muscles, the hip flexors and abs will be shortened all the time and the back muscles will end up with a build up of pressure on them. That happens because the apbs and hip flexors pull you forward- the pressure increases towards the forward direction and that in turns means more pressure will end up on the back muscles to keep you from becoming bend or even falling forward. The balance will become out of sync basically.
The building up pressure will put more force on the discs between the vertebrae. Healthy discs are there to buffer the movement of the spinal bones, they are meant to be compressed and released, that is the way the take up nutrients, a bit like a sponge.
The more pressure builds the more this action is disabled and the discs become smaller, flat or, in an unfortunate situation can even burst open- this would then be called a collapsed disc.
But even before this happens- the build up pressure between these muscle groups will already send signals to the brain to fire some discomfort, stiffness and pain so you are alerted that a potential worse problem can happen.
Now, taking a pain tablet would be ok, if you need to survive the weekend, but you should not try and "fix" the problem with taking regular pain meds. Usually the problem just worsens over time. It is better to start changing things, coming for massage, doing some exercises, doing stretches and applying heat to try and relax some of this build up tension in the muscles. You can also try a stand-up desk or standing up more when taking a phone call. Walk to your colleagues instead of sending an email. Walk and get a water instead of having a water bottle ready at your desk. Just get up more frequently.
Here are some stretches you can try to relieve some of the tension:
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