Lower Back Pain (LBP) is one of the few ‘sure’ things in life.  Well, it’s almost a sure thing…there’s about an 80% chance you will have an episode of LBP at some point in your life.  And, once you’ve had an episode, you are much more likely to have one or more repeat episodes.  We’ve known this for 20+ years now, yet the statistics have not changed…so why can’t we do anything about it?

Part of the problem is that we are a very busy society and we spend more time ‘doing’ than ‘preparing.’  Another problem is that our healthcare system rewards/reimburses treatment, not prevention or wellness.

As we go through our busy days, we experience a ‘twinge’ here and there or a strain over there.  We don’t have time to go to get it checked out (or can’t squeeze the co-pay or deductible into our budget this month!) so we live with it and compensate our movements to protect the injured area.  The pain eventually subsides but we are left with protective patterns.

In its uninjured state, our body has an amazing capacity to compensate.  But, every time it does so with these protective patterns, it has less ability to compensate.  That is why so many people who injure their backs will tell you they merely bent over to tie their shoes or pick up a pencil.  It literally becomes the proverbial ‘straw that broke the camel’s back.’

What this all means is that while the pain may be in your back, you need to look throughout the entire body and correct all of the compensatory tightness, weakness and instability to decrease the strain on the back, stop the pain and let the healing begin.

How can you figure some of this out on your own?  First, pay attention and listen to your body.  Do you look in the mirror when you get out of the shower and see that you lean slightly to one side?  Does your hip stick out more to one side?  Is one shoulder higher or lower than the other?  Do you get headaches sitting at your computer for longer than 20 minutes?  Does it seem to be more difficult taking steps up stairs with one leg more than the other?  Do you understand the process?  And, this doesn’t just go for standing…it’s perhaps more important to look at your moving posture as well.  Have someone watch you walk.  Do they see anything different or something that looks odd compared to others?  Comparing one side to the other?

Once you have identified problem areas, you can then target those areas with stretches and strengthening.  For the lower back, strengthening the ‘core’ is critical to provide a stable base to move your back on.  The core starts with having good hip strength, including the gluteus maximus (strong buttock muscles in the back of the hip) and gluteus medius (smaller buttock muscle on the side of the pelvis hip) which is critical for stabilizing the pelvis on the hip during all standing activities.

Finding the true causative factors and addressing them is the key to successfully treating back problems.  One sure way to live your life with back pain is to treat the pain itself.