The Pittman CONNECTION The Newsletter About Your Health And Caring For Your Body
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ARE YOU EXPERIENCING LOWER BACK PAIN? It May Be Caused By Another Issue
According to theNational Instituteof Health, approximately 80%of adultswill experience lower back pain at some point in their lives. Back pain is actually the most commonly reported location of pain across the globe. But howoften is the source actually another part of your body? Pain Is Usually Connected Your spine is a lengthy structure, and pain can travel along it. Let’s say you are prone to neck pain–perhaps you have a slouched posture from sitting at a desk all day and the pressure radiates in your shoulders. Or, maybe you’ve had a previous injury, such as whiplash, that still elicits painful stings every nowand then. Now, let’s say youbegin feeling pain in your lower back in addition to your neck pain. Why does this happen? Basically, the pains are connected to each other. Your head weighs about 10- 12 pounds, which is roughly the weight of a bowling ball. When you slouch, or compensate pain by realigning your body,
your backmuscles have towork extra hard tokeep you fromtoppling forward. Have you ever been so tired that your head begins to bob and it jolts you awake?That’s because your head is heavy! The weight from the motion wakes you back up because your body isn’t used to carrying it in that way. This is also why pain in your lower back may occur as a result. Your back muscles are working in overdrive and may be constricting to try and hold you up. If you notice neck and back pain at the same time as one another, try sitting up straighter – it should help ease some of the stress! Is Your Neck the Culprit? The most common combination of pain is in the neck and the back. If you are experiencingboth, it ismost likely stemming from the neck. We don’t typically think about it, but we use our necks for a lot of our daily activities.
Even simple things, such as turning to grab something out of the cupboard or looking over your shoulder when backing out of a driveway, use a lot of neckmuscles. When you do simple tasks such as these, do you find yourself turning your entire body, as opposed to just your head? If so, you could experience back pain alongwith your neck pain. When you have limitedmotion in your neck, your body compensates by twisting more than it usuallywould, thus over-rotating your lower back. This could cause a source of pain or general discomfort in the area, due toabnormal overuse. If youareexperiencing neck pain, back pain, or a combination of both, our physical therapists would be more than happy to meet with you for a consultation to discuss how they can help. Give us a call today at 901-850-5246 to find out how we can help you get back to better health.
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