There can be many causes for back pain, but most of them involve muscles and soft tissues (nerves, fascia, and everything except bones.)
When you were little, you used all of your muscles. At some point, for some reason (sitting, sports, injury) you started getting out of muscular balance. When this happened, you were setting the stage for pain in your back.
When all of your muscles were “balanced” (neither too tight nor too weak) you didn’t have back pain. But, now you do.
So, what should you do?
Part of the answer depends on exactly what is causing the pain in your back.
Do you have trigger points? Trigger points are hyper-irritable places in muscles which refer, or “fire,” pain elsewhere (sometimes far away.)
Does your back hurt simply because of tight muscles or muscle strain?
Is it due to the positions or furniture you spend a lot of time in? Or your mattress?
Could it be poor posture or habits? A rotation in your torso? A “slipped disk”?
The first part of the answer is to stretch the muscles which have become shortened. These muscles are most likely at the root of your back pain, and they are usually in the front of your body from knees to neck. These muscles cause your back muscles to be overstretched.
The second part of the answer is to strengthen the muscles on your whole back side, from knees to skull, except for your calves. When the muscles on the back side of your body get weak, they are easily strained and can develop trigger points. Trigger points need to be released (pressed into) to normalize the muscle.
The third part of the answer is to figure out what is causing your pain and how to get rid of it.
These three things will bring you closer to the muscular balance you had as a child. As you regain the balance in your muscles, you will have less back pain.
Another “tool” to help speed your recovery is therapeutic massage.
A knowledgeable massage therapist will listen to your symptoms and work in the areas that are causing your pain. Those might not be the same areas you expect. (Hint: Your abdomen is the front of your back!)
Now, you know there are many things you can do to get rid of the pain in your back naturally. Which ones will you do today to help get on the road to no more back pain?
Great post!! So informative – and what a great reminder of things we need to do to keep our backs healthy. Stretching is so key – but I never really knew the muscles to stretch until reading this post. Wow!
Thanks!
I see lots of back pain and before I learned some of these principles from people like you Kathryn, I only had pills to throw at the problem and that was largely ineffective.
It seems that strength, flexibility, good mechanics, diet and rest all play a part in acute and chronic pain. So often people want the quick fix now and not a permanent long term solution.
They need to get together with people like you who can guide them through the “system” and help them make decisions about how to proceed. This is a concise summary of a complex problem but if I or someone I know needs more, can we hire you as a consultant?
Dear Sherri,
I see lots of people stretching…the wrong way! Just because they don’t know. But, bodies are logical. I love them!
Dear Bruce,
Yes, people often want a quick fix and doctors often don’t know what to offer except pills. Yes, I may be available for consultation.
Thank you both for your comments. Appreciated!
Kathryn Merrow – The Pain Relief Coach