Eight out of ten of us—that’s right, a whopping 80%—will suffer lower back pain sometime in our life. Lower back pain is the single leading cause of disability, and Americans alone spend over 50 billion dollars each year trying to treat and manage it.
Why are those numbers so high? And more importantly, what can you do if you start to suffer from lower back pain yourself? Are there better options than opioids, spine injections, and surgery out there?
Common Causes of Low Back Pain
Often, low back pain comes from overuse or misuse of our body. If you think about how your spine is built, the upper and middle portion are supported by skeletal structure—your rib cage. Likewise, the very lowest portion is supported by your hipbones and sacrum. But your low back is only supported by muscles. This allows you to bend at the waist, but leaves a vulnerable point for injury.
There’s a small group of four muscles dedicated to protecting this vulnerable gap between ribs and hips. It’s called your Quadratus Lumborum, and it runs between your bottom rib and the edges of each vertebra and your hipbones (see picture).
Of
course back pain can come from more complicated causes. Spinal
malfunctions, compression fractures, herniations, and disease can cause
all sorts of havoc along your spinal column. If you are suffering from low back pain
you should have a doctor check it out to make sure nothing out of the
ordinary is wrong with you.If you do lots of bending, twisting, lifting,
or standing in one place for hours at a time, that vulnerable gap
between ribs and hips is right where you’ll feel the tension the most.
If you’re overweight
and your belly pulls forward on your spine, the ongoing strain will
often show up right in that area as well. If your core muscles are weak
from sitting for hours on end, that area is right where you’ll feel the
weakness. And do we even need to mention poor posture and the strain
that puts on this same area?
If you’re in the majority though, and your back pain is from one of the earlier causes we mentioned, the good news is, there’s a lot you can do to help your lower back pain ease up.
The First Line of Defense
They say the best defense is a good offense. And in the case of the most common causes of lower back pain, that is certainly true.
- Stay in shape. The core muscles of your torso are the best way to support your low spine. Keeping core muscles strong will also help with your balance, your posture, and your rest habits. Staying in shape should include both strengthening and stretching exercises.
- Pay attention. It sounds like a no-brainer, but let’s be honest here—life is distracting. There are a million things for us to think about other than making sure we are using our body intelligently. Keep track of your posture and body use while standing, sitting, lifting, and sleeping.
- Buy good shoes. You use your feet every day to carry your body from place to place and accomplish many types of activities. Make sure your feet have proper support, cushioning, and alignment to do their job well. Your entire body—quite literally—depends on them. Buy shoes that give you the results you’re looking for.
Get a good mattress. Get a massage. Find a good chiropractor. Be respectful of your body’s needs by taking action to help heal or even prevent the development of lower back pain.
Z-CoiL has built its business on answering the body’s need to be pain-free. Our patented shoe design has proven itself over and over around the world relieving pain for over a million feet now. Read a few of our customer comments and hear how the years we spent designing these shoes now pays off in everyday pain-free results of people just like you.
