4 Common Causes of Lower Back Pain & The Best Treatment Options

A close-up of an individual who is experiencing significant lower back pain. If you’ve suffered from lower back pain, then you’re part of over 500 million people around the world are have been affected by back pain at any one time. The lower back influences so many body movements that we don’t realize it until it becomes painful to even do simple tasks. While the lower back is extremely resilient, it can only take on so much damage until it becomes injured.

Many individuals suffer from chronic lower back pain that leaves them unable to perform everyday tasks. Understanding the reasons for lower back pain help shed some necessary light on managing lower back pain. We’ve compiled four common reasons why you may be experiencing lower back pain, as well as the suggested treatment methods we provide at Bethesda Physiocare.

Muscle Strain

Muscle strain is often seen as the most common reason individuals experience lower back pain. Strains occur when the muscles have been overloaded, resulting in potential damage. Overstraining the lower back can be caused by some of the most simple and unassuming tasks if there is already pre-existing damage. Strains can be exacerbated by lifting too heavy of weight without proper stabilization or sudden stress on the lower back. Interestingly, you do not need to have actual tissue damage to experience low back pain.

Arthritis

Age-related changes in the spine are perfectly normal as we move through the course of life. The lower back takes on a lot of the wear and tear our bodies experience, which can develop arthritis. The cartilage that sits between the joints in our lower back can start to thin over time resulting in inflammation of the joints, which in some cases, can cause back pain. The good news is that most age-related changes do not cause pain.

Back Injuries

Injuries, old or new, can make chronic lower back pain management a real challenge. Unfortunately, no one is excluded from the susceptibility of back injuries. A back injury can result from a sudden, traumatic accident or simply bending over wrong and tweaking the lower back.

Herniated Discs

Herniated discs are more likely to appear in the lower back than anywhere else. A herniated disc results from a disc spilling out of place and pressing into the spinal canal. Herniated discs can happen from repeated wear and tear or traumatic injuries to the lower back. Most herniated discs do not require surgery; chronic pain management is best achieved through extensive physical therapy.

Treatment Methods

Dry Needling: When muscles are overused or strained, they develop knotted areas called trigger points. Dry needling works to encourage blood flow and restore mobility by inserting dry needles into those trigger points, releasing the tension. Every member of the Bethesda Physiocare team is certified and trained in dry needling by industry-leading clinicians.

Manual Therapy: For those looking for a hands-on approach to treating lower back pain, manual therapy may be an excellent method. This form of physical therapy is one of the most tried and true ways to manage lower back pain.
Exergaming: Anyone suffering from back pain needs a progressive exercise program with increasing “loading” of the back muscles, resulting in a healthy and strong back.
Chronic Pain Management: Anyone suffering from chronic lower back pain needs to learn more about Bethesda Physiocare’s chronic pain management program. We aim to create a comprehensive pain management plan that alleviates your pain and provides long-term solutions to keeping your back healthy.

Finding Physical Therapy in Bethesda

Bethesda Physiocare is your local Bethesda physical therapist clinic ready to help you get back on your feet. Kick lower back pain to the curb when you partner with our team to find the right solutions for your pain.

We’ve helped countless people with our proven physical therapy programs get back to loving life without pain holding them back anymore. Managing lower back pain is difficult on your own; contact the Bethesda team today to get on the right track to a pain-free life.

Is “Poor Posture” Really that Bad?

It is a long known recommendation from health professionals, parents, teachers, media, etc. to “make sure you have a good posture.” It has been said plenty of times that if you have bad posture you will develop chronic pain, mostly the typical neck pain and back pain. Or if you already have pain, then “it is because of your bad posture”. This has been so that there are many approaches to try and get good posture, some as creative as having an attachment on our backs that vibrates or beeps whenever we slouch. But let’s be honest, it is mostly a losing battle for most of us. The majority of people can’t maintain “good“ posture for longer than a few minutes before slouching again. And for those who do manage to do it, reality is, they still complain of pain. So, does it really matter if you have “bad” posture? Is it worth putting on the effort to improve it if, in the end, the results may not be what we expected?

There’s No Such Thing as Good or Bad Posture

As a physical therapist who has seen thousands of clients, I can assure you, posture does matter. But here is the thing, it doesn’t matter in the way it has been inculcated over centuries. There is no such thing as “good” or “bad” posture, just the posture that comes before the next. It doesn’t really matter what posture you are in, so long as you can easily get in and out of it at will.

Whenever you spend too much time in one position, the same tissues are being loaded for the whole time you may be there. Let’s say you are in front of a computer for 4, 6, maybe even 8 hours. That whole time you are just slouched with your head forward to see the screen, neck cranked back, shoulder hunch forward to type. All the joints, muscles, ligaments, bones, nerves are put in a position that puts some stress on it. Some stress is ok and as you move, you take that stress away and those tissues recover. But after spending 4,6, 8 hours there, your tissues will be submitted to that stress for so long that they won’t have a chance to recover. That is when you get the discomfort and eventually the pain. And nowadays, this is a very common work-related injury, just by sitting. Now picture the “good” posture person who has been told plenty of times to maintain that posture at all times. This person is seated in front of the same computer but contracting his back and shoulder muscles to sit straight with shoulders back, head up and maintains the same position for 4,6, 8 hours. This person is going to be loading different tissues from those of the person who sits slouched, but again, for such a long period of time that there won’t be enough time for those tissues to recover.

Your Posture Constantly Changes!

So at the end of the day, what matters most is not that you can maintain a certain posture, but rather that you can move in and out of that posture at will so you can change which tissues are being put under stress while allowing others to recover. Posture should be constantly changing and not static. In other words, you should look at posture as “the beginning of the next movement.” It is ok to sit slouched for a while, then straight for another, then leaning to one side, then the other, etc. If you can move from one posture to the other without problems then everything is ok, but for some people, this is not possible. If you feel like you are stuck in one position a physical therapist can help. At Bethesda Physiocare, we can help figure out how to get you to move better so your posture can be ever-changing and not a rigid one.