Cause of Back Pain

A painful back is such a prevalent health condition in this country, people get bad dreams about coming down with it one day themselves, so what is the cause of back pain? As much as people care to avoid it though, few actually manage it.

Four out of five Americans suffer from back pain at some point; one out of six people actually have back pain that comes from a serious problem like a herniated disc or spinal stenosis.

How To Improve Your Posture

The specific cause of back pain in a person can be difficult for doctors to pin down. And it can be very expensive and complicated to treat as well. Most of it – physiotherapy or drugs – isn’t really known to work reliably.

In older people, any cause of back pain they suffer can be simply chalked up to age.

Our bodies don't last forever; and with age, the vertebrae that make up the spine just wear out. The back pain that most people complain of can usually be traced to poor muscle and ligament alignment and strength.

Which happens to be good news. It shows that if you develop core strength and keep your back postured the right way all day every day, that the most common cause of back pain that people complain of – poor muscle and ligament alignment and strengths – can easily be avoided.

 Perhaps doctors should promote good posture as a way to look better. A great posture is not only a great way to stay well away from neck pain or back pain, it makes for an impressive profile, it helps with muscle tone, and you even breathe better.

If people thought about good posture in this way, posture would probably end up being a lot more popular. Here's what you do to help yourself sit and stand in a way that helps your spine instead of hurting it.

How To Improve Your Posture

One of first things you can do to correct your posture is to merely stop slouching. Here's how you do it; you need to make your mind up to really stand up when you do stand up. You need to be erect without being ramrod straight, look up so that your chin is gently lifted, pull your shoulders back so that they line up with your hips and pull your head back so that your ears are lined up with your shoulders.

If you're standing up correctly, your back should be a gentle “S” shaped curve (when you're viewed in profile by someone on your right).

Now that you've learned the right posture, you need to sit down and maintain that shape to your back. If you are someone who needs to sit at a desk the whole day or drive long distances, a little rolled up towel where your lower back goes inwards would really help you.

If your core muscle strength isn't strong enough, merely sitting straight won't help you. You need to do something like take a Pilates class to toughen your back muscles and connective tissues up.

Ever seen the bottom of your computer keyboard? Most of them come with a sticker trying to explain to you how the right posture should keep yourself safe from carpal tunnel syndrome. The advice the bottom of your keyboard gives you happens to be pretty sound if it weren't, everybody would sue them.

But you can't sit frozen in the same position for hours either. Your back needs movement. That's the way we're built. If you could get up and stretch a bit from time to time, you’d be perfect.