It seems as though anyone you speak with has issues of some type of back pain. Back pain, no matter if it’s lower or upper, can cause such a strain on life in general. It can make you miss out on your child’s school events, weddings, graduations, and so on. Back pain is no joke and until a person has suffered with it, a lot of people will never know the severity of general back pain. There can be many causes of lower back pain for many people. Lower back pain can range from not wearing the appropriate shoes, all the way to a childhood injury that wasn’t properly taken care of. The list could go on and on, but today we are actually going to address the main causes of lower back pain.

Muscle Strain and Ligament Sprain

What exactly is a muscle strain and a ligament sprain? Well, a muscle strain is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a strain on the muscle, like a tearing of the muscle itself. A ligament sprain is actually the stretching or tearing even, of a person’s ligaments. Sounds kind of rough, doesn’t it? What can a person do after a muscle strain or even a ligament sprain? There are a few things to consider when deal with these types of condition and below in a listing format, we are going to provide some of those top tips out.

• Get Rest: We cannot stress this enough when it comes to a muscle strain or a ligament sprain. You need to make sure that you get enough rest and let your body heal. Make sure that you do not engage in strenuous activity. Give yourself time to heal.
• Ice or Heat? When it comes to these conditions, you do not need to place any type of heat element on your strain or sprain. Ice would be a lot better because the ice will draw the so called, heat out from your injury. The heat is like the infection in your arm or leg, so always place cold elements to the strain or sprain.
• Keep Your Legs Elevated: Keep in mind that proper elevation within the first few days after these types of injuries is vital in the healing process. The gravity of it all will assist your swelling to settle on the lowest points of your injuries.

Lumbar Herniated Disc

A lumbar herniated disc occurs when someone tries to lift something heavy and sometimes, there can be no reason at all, which does sound scary. Sometimes, a person can develop a lumbar herniated disc issue when he or she twists the lower back and that motion will place added stress on the discs. It’s a very common issue between people aged, thirty-five to fifty. How exactly does a lumbar disc become herniated? That’s a great question because many people have this condition and don’t even know how they got the issue or what to do with it. There is an outer ring called the annulus, which protects a gel-like interior of each individual disc. In regards of aging, as well the common wearing out system our bodies go through, a person’s discs will lose some of the fluid which makes the discs quite spongy. When the discs kind of sit on top of one another, which is what will happen with a lumbar herniated disc, it will cause a lot of pain because the cushion between the discs are disappearing. It’s a very simple concept to understand because when there is added stress on a person’s spine, the discs have no other option than to tear, budge, or even crack. This will cause a person to feel as though their lower back is pinching and really, it is. There is not enough cushion to support the discs and they are rubbing together.