Give Me The Facts - Back Pain Facts

Looking for the back pain facts? 

It should be no surprise that back pain is a malady that can result from a myriad of issues and can impact many facets of your life. 

There are many myths and often little understanding of the basic back pain facts, which is exactly what you need if you are going to best treat your back pain. 

Impacting the lives of between fifty and eighty percent of all Americans, there’s over 24 billion dollars a year spent in a frantic attempt to find that elusive relief for back pain. 

This condition regardless of the cause of the back pain can be a financial nightmare.  While we’ve already talked about the 24 billion spent on back pain relief, that number does not even include the amount of money lost from being absent from work. 

While the muscles in your back need to be flexible enough to give you movement as you go through life they also need to be strong enough support your body.  With all this work it should be no shock that a strained muscle or ligament in the back is one of the most common causes of back pain.

So what’s the treatment for back pain related to a strained muscles or ligaments?  It is really quite easy since this type of back pain can often be resolved by just resting and stretching and after about a month or so, many back muscle strains will usually begin to heal.

A herniated disc may also be another cause of back pain. A herniated disc occurs when the discs found in the middle of two of your back vertebrae rupture, which causes some of the internal disc to squeeze out of its normal spot. Ouch!

Let’s make one thing clear…there are many reasons for back pain.  Some causes are preventable since they develop because of poor choices such as high stress, a bad mattress, poor posture, obesity and not getting enough sleep.

But regardless of the reason if you experience back pain that lasts longer than a few days, or if the pain causes you to have to alter your normal daily activities or if the pain is so intense that it wakes you up at night, then it’s time to visit a doctor to determine the cause.

While there are many different causes of back pain which require a variety of treatments based on the root cause of the pain, often times something as simple as grandma’s remedy of using heat and cold can work just fine. 

Back pain is either described as acute back pain, which lasts six weeks or less, sub-acute back pain which lasts between six and twelve weeks, and chronic back pain which occurs for more than twelve weeks.  A visit to your physician will help to determine the cause and specific type of your back pain.  That same visit should also result in you finding back pain treatment. 

Education is knowledge and the more that you know about back pain facts the better prepared you will be to find the relief that you need.  Remember if your back pain persists, there’s no need to just “live with it”, make an appointment with your physician and get started towards healthier living today.