Back pain can slow you down during your daily activities, making it harder to move without irritating your injury. If you have back pain, you may want to be gentle with your injury, causing you to become sedentary, but this can actually make your back pain worse. It is often hard to pinpoint the exact cause of your back pain, but here are three common things your pain may come from.
Not stretching your back muscles
One of the most common causes of back pain is sprained or strained muscles, and it can often be avoided by stretching your muscles. A sprain is a ligament injury, while a strain is an injury to your tendons or muscles. There are many ligaments supporting your spine, while your tendons and muscles protect it and allow you to move. If you’re active at the gym or in a sport, stretching properly can help you avoid injury. Even if you’re not as active, stretching can still help prevent back pain. When you stretch your back, you’re making your muscles, tendons, and ligaments expand, so they are less likely to tear or be pulled and cause you injury.
Sitting all day
If you work in an office or at some kind of desk, you could be spending hours hunched over while you work. Often, your body doesn’t work how you think it might. For example, it may feel easier to go down stairs, but it’s harder on your knees, and similarly, sitting may feel better than standing, but sitting puts more pressure on your back than standing does. If enough pressure is put on your back over time, it can lead to inflammation, herniated discs, or nerve compression in your back, which can cause serious back pain that will make your life harder. Be sure to alleviate the pressure on your back by taking breaks, getting up and walking around, or making your own standing desk.
Forgetting your core
Your core muscles aren’t just your abdominal and oblique muscles, they include your lower back muscles as well. Your core is part of what protects your spine, and allows you to stabilize your movements and transfer force to the center of your body. You need to lift heavy items with your legs and core instead of your back or knees to avoid strain on weaker areas of your body. If you forget to strengthen any part of your core, you can hurt yourself during any hard, physical activity, or even lifting something to help someone move.
Your back takes a lot of strain as you go about your day to day tasks, so you need to take steps to protect your body. Chronic or minor back pain can be debilitating and annoying, and you won’t realize how much you need a pain-free back until it’s too late. Make sure you don’t ignore your back pain if you can’t prevent it, but pinpointing the cause of your back pain will be the first step to healing. If you’re looking for experiencing pain in your neck or back, call the Jacksonville spine center today.
