What is lower back pain and how can I prevent it

If you are struggling with lower back pain and you’re not sure why, then this blog is for you. In this blog we will explain a few possible causes of lower back pain and also the best tips to prevent this lower back pain from reoccurring in the future.

Facet joints

One of the most common causes of lower back pain is caused by facet joint irritation in the spine. The facet joints are found from the top to the bottom of the spine on either side.

What often happens is you get a little bit inflammation in the capsule in between these joints. That can cause some local nerve irritation. This local nerve irritation will have an effect on the muscles around the area and cause them to tighten up. That’s why you can feel some of that pain because of that tightening muscle and also because of that inflammation that’s been building up in between the joints in the spine.

Disc herniation

A second most common cause is a disc herniation or otherwise known as a slipped disc. What tends to happen is in between the spine and each vertebrae, you’ve got a disc, which is there to help with shock absorbance in the spine. What often happens is when you’re moving the spine, bending forwards and backwards, you can put a lot of pressure through those areas. This can cause a little bit of inflammation in the area and it can cause the disks to protrude out onto the surrounding spinal nerves. When that happens, you may also experience radiating pain that often occurs down the legs.

How can I prevent back pain?

One of the most easy ways of preventing lower back pain is to do regular exercise. With this regular exercise, you need to also warm up before and remember to stretch properly after you exercise.

Another way to prevent back pain is to improve your posture. What can happen whilst working is you might be sat at a desk for a long period of time with a poor posture, to overcome this take regular breaks and stand up, walk around for a period of time.

Another thing that will often help is to use a cushion onto the small of your back. Sit as far back into the chair as you can comfortably and place a cushion or lumbar roll, which is a special cushion designed to release some of that pressure onto that lower back. That will make it much more comfortable and then put less stress onto that lower back whilst you are sat down for long periods in work.

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