Severe Lower Back Pain

Severe lower back pain is surprisingly common. Up to 85% of adults experience it at some point in their lives. It is most commonly first experienced around middle age and affects men and women more or less the same.

The effects of severe lower back pain can have pains that shoot down the back of one or even both legs. This makes walking very difficult. After sitting for any length of time the sufferer will usually take a minute or two to fully straighten and become mobile. The effort of doing so can be excruciating.

The reasons for severe lower back pain are many, but poor posture ranks high among the causes. Try to develop an upright posture that doesn't cause you to slump, putting unnecessary pressure on parts of the spine. Correcting poor posture can be difficult to achieve, but worth it if it limits or eliminates severe lower back pain.

Muscle imbalance in the lower back can cause severe lower back pain. This occurs when two opposing muscles that should be in harmony are not. In effect, one is pulling more strongly than the other, causing an imbalance, which in turn causes severe lower back pain.

One sure way to create severe lower back pain is to lift a heavy object in the wrong way. Men especially are guilty of doing this. They will lean over a heavy object, grasp it and try to straighten the back. This puts considerable strain on the lower back and can easily cause severe lower back pain.

It may not look quite as macho, but squatting down before a heavy object, grasping it firmly and mainly using the stronger leg muscles to stand upright while maintaining a straight back, is the correct way to lift a heavy object. The chance of causing severe lower back pain is considerably lessened this way, making it much safer all round for your back.

If you are overweight, even if you are not very much overweight, you are putting pressure on your lower back. Over time this can cause severe lower back pain as your back fails in its struggle to maintain a normal posture. The answer is obviously to lose weight and return to a normal body weight, thereby lessening the strain on your back.

General stress can cause severe lower back pain. When a person is under mental stress, the entire body becomes stressed to some degree too. This causes a general tightening of the muscles, which in turn can cause severe lower back pain. Relaxing the body or even better, removing the cause of the stress should help in cases like this.

Gentle exercise can help to relieve severe lower back pain. Of course, a sufferer is usually unable to move much and certainly won't feel like exercising. But remaining stationary is not recommended either. Try to move, even if it's just a little. This should help circulation and help to improve the muscle condition.