What is Back Pain?

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Sunday, October 12th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

When you have had a good look at the major muscles of the back and you will have a better understanding of how each of those muscles or muscle groups are involved with movement and even with the functions of the body. But knowing how the back can cause chronic pain with every single movement doesn’t exactly explain how that pain originates in the first place. Let’s take a closer look at what causes most back pain and injuries so that we can have a better understanding of how to avoid that pain in the first place and how to treat it once it happens.

Back Injury

Perhaps one of the most common causes of pain in the back is due to injury. This may sound surprising since many will experience pain in the back and will assume that it is not due to back injury because they feel that they have not even injured their back in anyway, but it in fact they may have.

In reality it doesn’t take that much to injure any of the muscles of the back. Knowing that the major muscles and muscle groups that extend from your neck to your lower back, there are literally dozens of smaller muscles that can cause tremendous amounts of pain when injured or hurt.

What is especially important to remember about injuring your back is that when you hurt any of these smaller muscles they rarely have time to heal properly. Since the back is constantly in use even when we’re at rest, these muscles are always being stretched and strained. It’s much like having to go to work when you have a cold or the flu - it takes that much longer to heal when you can’t rest because your body can’t give the sick parts the attention it deserves. So it goes with your back - when you hurt any of those muscles, no matter how small, they just can’t be immobile for the hours and days needed to heal completely.

Injuries you may sustain or experience that cause pain are not as severe as that of a care accident or when lifting extremely heavy objects, although those can be considered as typical issues too.

Here are some typical examples of actual injuries to the back that can cause pain long-term:

* Overuse of the back muscles. - This can happen due to a hobby or job that requires the repeated use of the back muscles, such as loading and unloading of heavy objects, a construction related activity, and activities that rely on the back muscles like golf and bowling. Over time repeated use of the back muscles may cause injury.
* Jarring from traffic stops and starts - Even if you’re not technically in a traffic accident, slamming on your brakes means that the back must work suddenly and swiftly to protect the body from careening forward. This sudden stopping and starting makes the back work overtime in a way it’s not designed to work, which means injury.
* Overextending the back muscles from twisting side to side. - These very small muscles that are located up and down the sides of the abdomen and rib cage are very susceptible to injury this way; when they’re overextended they are actually injured.
* Carrying weight. - This can mean a very heavy backpack, purse, or other item that puts undue stress and strain on the back. The muscles work hard to carry and balance this weight and often suffer tears and strains without anyone even realizing it.
* Sudden stresses and strains. - How many times have you gone to hug a child only to have him or her suddenly lift their feet off the ground so that you’re carrying their entire weight when you didn’t expect it? Or have suddenly slipped or tripped and have had to catch yourself without thinking? These types of sudden and unexpected stresses and strains can cause injury to your back as it’s not ready and prepared to handle these events. The muscles can be tense and caught off guard which means they’re more prone to tiny tears and stresses.

As said, people often don’t even realize that they’ve injured their back until much later, after the injury occurs. Muscles often knot up as a way of protecting themselves from further injury and as long as they’re knotted the body may not sense pain. It’s only later when they begin to loosen up that a person realizes something is wrong.

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