Small Steps, Sensible Choices, Superior Health.

Understanding Chronic
Back Pain Causes

Understanding chronic back pain causes will make more sense once we understand how the back works. Knowing a little about the structure of the back and how it works could help you prevent back pain.

Most of us will at some point experience back pain. 

Often it can be sudden, debilitating back pain that grounds us for a few days.

In fact it's one of the biggest reasons for absenteeism in the work place.

Your spine seems like a simple structure but it's actually more complicated than you might think.

When we sit down in a chair, or turn to get an item off the shelf, or bend over to pick up to pick up our shoes in the morning, we don't think twice about our back.

But when you can't do these normal daily activities without pain, you then realize how important it is to have a healthy back and avoid chronic back pain causes.

The Message System of The Back

Let’s look at the mechanics of how your back functions. Underneath your skin, there are muscles, ligaments and vertebrae. These vertebrae are small round shaped bones that stack on top of one another and run the entire length of your back.

These bones have an opening in the middle of them and which is called the spinal column. This is where your your spinal cord is located and it runs from the from the base of your brain all the way down to your tail-bone.

Your spinal cord is a type of communication system for the body.  All of your nerves originate at the the spinal cord and branch out to various places within the body carrying messages back and forth.

So it's important not to damage this delicate system with chronic back pain causes.

The Mechanics of The Back

• The Cervical Spine has 7 vertebrae located in the neck area. 
• The Thoracic Spine is made up of 12 vertebrae in the located in the chest area. 
• The Lumbar Spine consists of 5 vertebrae in the lower back area.
  
•  The Sacral Spine has 5 vertebrae in the pelvis area which connect with your pelvis bones. 
• The Coccyx Spine has 4 vertebrae that make up your tail-bone.

These 5 parts of your back make up the spinal column. All of the vertebrae in the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine are moveable so that you can twist and turn while doing various activities. However the sacral and coccyx vertebrae are fused vertebrae that don't allow movement.

If you've ever seen an x-ray of the spine, you've probably noticed that it has a slight curve to it. This is what allows your body to bend, twist and move.

If it were fused you would be stiff and unable to twist and turn. People that have suffered with chronic back pain causes sometimes have a "spinal fusion". This leaves them with almost no range of motion in the area of the fusion.

There are soft cushions, called discs, that are located between each of the vertebrae. These discs are like gel filled sacs that are soft in the middle and they surround and protect the spinal cord. Some chronic back pain causes are from the gel leaking from the sac. Fortunately, the outer layer is made of a much tougher material.

The spaces between the vertebrae, allow nerves to pass through and communicate with every other part of your body like your organs, muscles, ligaments, tendons and skin.

Faster than the blink of an eye, the nerves can carry electrical signals to the brain and back again! This is a highly complex communication system.

If you've ever been burned by touching a hot skillet, think how quickly you pulled your hand back, that all stems from the body's nerve signals being sent to the brain.

Types of Chronic Back Pain Causes

Back pain can be one of the most debilitating ailments known to man. A few years ago, my husband developed severe lower back pain and could do almost nothing for months.

I too, have had times in my life when a long duration of severe back pain brought my life to a standstill. While we are better now, we know we are always just one wrong twist or turn away from another episode of back pain.

So we try to practice good body mechanics and utilize the other tips we learned in this free book on curing back pain.

Back pain can be as simple as a pulled muscle or as complicated as a herniated disc which is one of the common chronic back pain causes.

• Strain or Pull  If you pull or strain a muscle it usually causes some discomfort or pain, which can often be delayed.  If you lift something or stretch in the wrong way, you may feel the pain immediately. This pain might feel like a cramped or knotted muscle or just a simple soreness. This pain can usually be resolved by rubbing, stretching and resting the muscle. 

• Repetitive  Another simple way to hurt your back is by doing a repetitive motion that your body isn't used to. For example: trimming the shrubs, shoveling snow, repetitive reaching. This type of pain may come on gradually or even the next day. 
• Obesity   Carrying around excess weight is very hard on the skeletal system.
  
•  Other Causes  Stress, improper posture, sudden movements, lifting with a bent back and not your legs, an injury that results in a change of gait like limping, improper arch support in your shoes and believe it or not, even not getting enough water. 
  

In general, these are minor and not chronic back pain causes but if left untreated, could lead to a more chronic type of pain. So when you suffer from this type of minor back pain, often times the following can be very comforting:

• resting the muscle
• using heat packs (heat relaxes the muscle)
  
• massaging of the muscles

Who doesn't like a back rub?

When massaging the muscles in the back, I like using an essential oil like chamomile or lavender, not straight, but in some lotion.  This helps to relax the muscles and the body even more. Ultimately, the muscles need to relax and rest in order to recover and heal.

Once you're feeling better, some simple back strengthening exercises might also help to prevent back pain in the future.

In all the material I have reviewed, I have found the 7 Day Back Pain Cure to be a very comprehensive resource for anyone suffering with back pain. 

Even if you're not in pain right now, we are all just one wrong move away from back pain.  I highly recommend you grab your FREE copy now by clicking on the link below.

Additional Resources

Lower Back Pain Symptoms

Natural Back Pain Relief

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