Anatomy of the Back

(Posted On March 8, 2012 by Justin)

The problem with many people is that they always complain with the pain in their backs without really knowing the real reason behind the pain. Whenever they encounter pain, they just say “my back hurt because of long hours of standing or sitting”. While this might be true but then, you might wonder and ask questions like “what’s the connection?” Then, the people will have no answer for this. The people should realize that for them to be able to know the real answers to their problems, they have to start with the root of the problems. Why your back does hurt? This is because some muscles or nerves gets fractured or swelled. And why is that so? For you to be able to understand it properly you have to learn the anatomy of back – the back anatomy of the back.

The human back is the large posterior area of the human body. Our back is composed of complex muscles and skeletal structure –each contributing to the overall function of the back – to support our body and allow us to move freely without feeling some pain. The moment that one of this structure are not in place or something is fractures and gets inflamed, this is the very reason why people feel pain in their back. Below are few of the structure that you need to be familiar with in order for you to know the real reason beyond an aching back:

VERTEBRAE

The vertebral body is a thin ring of dense cortical bone. The vertebral body is shaped is like an hourglass. The rims of the bone contained the superior and the inferior endplates. These rims are form because of the outer cortical bone and the superior and inferior ends of the vertebrae.

PEDICLES

These are the two short rounded processes that extend from the lateral margin of the dorsal surface of the vertebral body. They are made of thick cortical bone.

INTERVERTEBRAL DISCS

Inter vertebral discs are found between each vertebrae. The discs are flat, round in structures and about a quarter to three quarters of an inch thick with tough rings of tissue called the annulus fibrosis – which contain a soft white jelly like center called the nucleus pulposus. This inters vertebral discs compresses when weight is put on them and springs back when the weight is removed. These discs make up one third of the length of the spine and constitute the largest organ in the body. However, they don’t have its own blood supply. They received their blood supply through movements as they soak up their nutrients. This happen when the discs are at rest and this is also the very moment that they soak up nutrient rich fluid. The discs become more prone to injury when it becomes thinner due to repetitive movement or an injury.

LAMINAE

The laminae are the two flattened plates of bone extending medially from the pedicles to form the posterior wall of the foramen. The moment there is some injury in the laminae, it may result to spondylolisthesis – a condition on which can lead to serious back pain.

SPINAL CORD

This is the part of the central nervous system of the human body. This is a vital pathway that conducts signals from the brain to other parts of the body through the individual nerve fibers. Because they are a very delicate structure, they need to be taken care of. When you have injury in your spinal cord, it can affect your mobility and might not allow you to walk or even move your body for the rest of your life.

FACET JOINTS

These are the joints in between our spines that allow us to bend backwards and forward and do some twist and turn. So, just imagine the effect it can give you once they get damage. Not only that. Each vertebra has facet joints that connect it with the vertebrae above and the vertebrae below in the spinal column. The surfaces of the facet joints are covered with smooth cartilage.

SPINAL CANAL

This is the anatomic casing for the spinal cord. The canal provided protection and support for the spinal cord. This is possible because the bones and the ligaments are aligned enough to make a canal. Like any other components, the moment that this part encounters some injuries, then you can expect severe back pain.

LIGAMENTU FLAVUM

This is the strong ligaments that connect the laminae of the vertebrae. The term flavum is used because of its yellow appearance when it is in its natural state. Ligamentu flavum functions to protect the neural elements and the spinal cord and stabilize the spine.

Each components function as one to make the human body stronger and support its weight. However, when they got some injuries, it is then that you experience back pain. People should be aware of this back anatomy to make sure that really understand why they feel pain and not just say that I feel pain because I have an accident last week. When you got some real back pain, it’s time that you visit your doctor and talk about your situation. While you are the carrier of your body, you also don’t know everything about it since you are not familiar with how things work inside the body. It would be a good idea that you visit your doctor as soon as possible when you feel the severe pain.

Posted in General Back Health | Tagged anatomy back muscles, anatomy of back muscles, anatomy of lower back | Leave a comment

All about Lower Back Pain

(Posted On March 6, 2012 by Justin)

People often times experience lower back pain due to some reasons that are sometimes under your control and sometimes, beyond too. However, you have to address the back pain immediately the moment that you feel the pain because it might be cause by something serious such as health condition like cancers and lupus. There are many causes for lower back pain but all causes point to one thing – your lower back muscles get stressed and overused. Daily activities such as running and walking can cause pain in your lower back. How is it possible? Remember that when you are moving, you are prone to the risk of getting your muscles strained. However, pain in the lower back is most common to runners. Why? This is because runners often risk their muscles to get strained the moment that they run.

Lower back pain from running has lots of reasons and these are:

Trying to hold yourself upright
Worn or inappropriate shoes
Pushing forward to run
Too much bounce in your side
Running whilst carrying an injury

You can start with changing your shoes. When you feel that your shoes are worn and are not perfect for running, try to visit a running shop and ask for assistance. When you are wearing the inappropriate shoes or shoes that are not suitable for you, the shoes will not absorb the constant shock of the impact with the road causing compression and jarring in the disc in your spine. Good running shoes might be the key to avoid you from getting lower back pain.

If and if you already had changed your running shoes and still, it doesn’t work, get yourself checked with a certified and reliable physical therapist for any injuries that you don’t know. When you still experience lower back pain when running, the most sensible thing to do is to assess your running technique. There might be something wrong with your style. The cause of back pain for runners is the thought that runners think – running would mean moving forward. While it is true that running is about going forward, you are not require to push forward to do it. Running is about passing a force into the ground while you use your hip, knees and ankle. For runners, there is only one golden rule: use the ground and not your back.

Apart from lower back pain caused by running, there are also lower back pains that you feel during the morning – after you wake up. Lower back pain in morning can be possible because of some reasons such as:

Poor sleeping posture – people often complain in the morning that they have back pains. This is because they are sleeping in bad posture. When you have a bad posture when you are sleeping, it can be stressful for your spinal cord. Remember that when you put too much stress in your muscles, you are making ways for back pain. A good perfect posture might be lying in the abdomen or sideways. This is the most comfortable ways to lie in your back. Take note that the body needs supports when at rest. This can be achieved by simply lying in your back. Our spinal cord is slightly curve and when one does not sleep on the back, it only makes the spinal cord more curved. The habit of sleeping in bad posture will eventually lead to chronic back pain and can cause deformity in the back bones.
Faulty Mattress – make sure that your bed mattress is proper – not too soft and not too firm. When you have too firm mattress, it will cause back pain.
Arthritis – When you have arthritis, you will feel back pain in the morning. When you have arthritis, you can expect inflammation of the joints causing you to feel severe lower back pain. Arthritis pain in the back often appears frequently but they are more frequent during the morning.
Insufficient Oxygen Supply – when you sleep at night, you relax your body but this is also the time where you don’t have a sufficient oxygen supply to your back area. And because of this, you can feel discomfort during the morning. When you are making movement during the day time, you are giving adequate oxygen supply for your muscles and ligaments of your back. When you rest at night, your sleeping position doesn’t allow proper blood circulation to your back causing the drop of oxygen supply in the back area.
Spinal Stenosis – When the width of the spinal canal reduces considerably and which lead to compression of the nerve and the spine, then spinal stenosis happens. The compression of the nerves can cause great discomfort which is often experience during the morning. The moment that this condition affects the back area, it causes lower back pain in morning.

Lower back pain can happen to anyone and anytime – whether you are running or even if you are just sleeping. The fact that these reasons can be prevented and avoided is enough for you to fight off lower back pain. Or if not, you just have to think about the discomfort it can give you or how it can affect your mobility and your activity the whole day. Lower back pain might be too common for most people but that doesn’t mean that you just have to accept it as it is because in the first place, lower back pain can sometimes be irritating and annoying at times.

Posted in Lower Back Health | Tagged lower back pain exercises, relieving lower back pain, sever lower back pain | Leave a comment

Back and Chest Pain Together

(Posted On February 8, 2012 by Justin)

Most people when they experience back and chest pain together – they concluded they are having a heart attack especially if they never have felt chest pain before. The pain might begin something like a dull pain and the pain will increase rapidly and you feel like there is something sticking in your chest. However, while it might be a good reaction that you treat the pain as something serious, it can sometimes allow you to get panicked and let you feel fear over your condition when you aren’t so sure about it. Chest and back pain together might be cause by improper posture while you are sitting or standing and there is nothing that you have to worry about – though, it would really help if you addresses the problem immediately thinking that it’s a serious one. Do not be overly alarmed though as it can also lead to another serious problems.

However, there are also sometimes that you have to be keen on observing and reporting the pain to your doctor because there might be some underlying causes of it such as pneumonia, angina or even cancer. These diseases are life threatening diseases and can cause you death when you ignore it. The key to get better diagnosis for your condition is to make sure that you take down notes on what you feel. The doctors will have better assessment of your condition when you provide them with exact and accurate details. The first step that you should be concerned with is if you are experiencing a short term pain or a long term pain. In order for you to understand properly, it is helpful if you understand the muscular structure of the chest and the upper back. For the record, there are three main muscles groups in your chest and upper back and these are the:

Trapezius – trapezius muscles are the two large triangular muscles that connect your shoulder blades to your upper back. They are the one responsible for moving your shoulders and arms.
Pectoralis major – these are the large muscles that connects your arms to your chest bone.
Latissimus dorsi – these are the pair of large, flat muscles groups that run vertically down the either side of your back.

When you know the anatomy of your shoulder and how they work as well as their connection to each other, then you have an idea why you feel chest and back pain whenever those muscles are get stressed and overuse.

SHORT TERM OR TEMPORARY PAIN

One thing you have to bear in mind is that any severe strain can do some great impact on the muscle group next to it. Upper back muscles and chest muscles work together hand in hand for the purpose of breathing. The common muscular injury can heal itself within a few weeks. There are also some instances that chest pain happens with back pain – this is because of the spinal injury causes the nerve endings to fire into other parts of the body and in this case, the back part of your body. A pinched nerve in the mid to upper spine region is a common cause of back and chest pain. When the chest pain is brought by a bone condition or a spinal disk, the pain will be relieved once the back pain is treated. There is also one thing that you take note- when you have a diaphragm injury, it also causes you to feel back and chest pain together.

CHRONIC PAIN

Most of the times, chest and back pain occurs together when one area grows inflamed and spreads the pain to other regions of the body. It can also occur when someone with heart diseases has a heart attack. Possible causes are said to be lung inflammation or infection such as from pleurisy. Chronic pain of this nature may even have a psychological basis. Most of the time, when chest and back pain occurs together, it is really difficult to know what is really happening and this is why it often takes an exam to sort things out.

The pain in chest and back area are very common with people who have pull muscles in their back and shoulders. This pain generally comes from twisting, lifting, bending or moving the wrong way. If you think that you have done strenuous activity that triggers the pain in your back, then have some time to figure out things or know if the pain will going to subside. However, if you don’t have no reason to have pain in your back, for example, you have been watchful with your movements for the past few days – then you must consider to see a doctor and have a medical help immediately because it might be something serious and can threaten your life.

There are many different treatments that you can do for chest and upper back pain but if you know that the cause is due to pulled or strained muscles there isn’t much to do but to take your time and rest. Nothing can beat the power of rest as it can relax your muscles and allow it to heal. However, it would be a nice and great idea if you always see your doctor that moment you feel the pain in your chest – remember that prevention is always better than cure. So before the pain get worst, see your doctor and have the pain checked.

Posted in Lower Back Health | Tagged chest and back pain, pain in back and chest, upper back chest pain | Leave a comment

Thoracic Back Pain

(Posted On February 1, 2012 by Justin)

Thoracic back pains are very common with aged people. In fact, almost more than half of the adult population is affected by it at some point in their life. Some people might misidentify it as a disease but medical experts say that it is a symptom that might indicate or could lead to more serious concerns. Many people experience back pain – this is very common but thoracic back pain is not. When you have this pain, you feel like you cannot move your back at all and it is stressful even to know that you won’t be able to move your back freely. Your back being one of the most important parts of your body plays a great part and role in your daily life.

Thoracic back pain is not very common and occurs rarely, but when it does, it can surely bring you immense pain. It is usually caused by irritation in your muscles and is also caused by joint dysfunction. There are some instances when you have injured your disc and this usually leads to thoracic back pain. This is not likely to happen commonly. Some people assume that not all back pains require a visit to your doctor, but sometimes back pains force a consultation with a doctor. Although medicines have been around for a long time now, there are also some who are not comfortable with taking medicines.

One of the major reasons why old people experience thoracic back pain is due to a sedentary lifestyle they are forced to follow. The problem with people when they grow old is that they move less as they are not active anymore. Adults on the other hand have jobs that require sitting in front of the computer for long hours at a stretch. When this happens, you are actually putting pressure and stress on your upper back and since your upper back muscles aren’t as strong as the muscles located in your lower back area you feel pain in your upper back region. Apart from that, the posture also contributes to the cause of thoracic back pain. When you are standing, have you noticed that you’re shoulders are rounded? This is because you tried to hold your shoulders in the same position which in the process gives stress to your muscles and can greatly contribute towards soreness and throbbing in your upper part area.

So if a sedentary lifestyle or having a wrong posture is the reason for your back pain, then can do something about it. Try moving your body more often. If you have a busy schedule and your work does not allow you to move often, here are some things that you can do:

- Do the household chores. When you are at home, do the household chores and do not leave it for other household members. If your work does not permit you to move around too much, like sitting for the whole day in front of the computer, then if you find some time to do the house work do the task.

- Avoid watching too much TV. After sitting in your office desk for many hours, the last thing that you can do is to sit again on your couch and watch TV. Spend as little time as possible watching TV, instead go the nearest park and take a walk.

- You might also consider taking a vacation to take a break from work. Some people say that taking rest is the best solution for your aching back but somehow, things have changed. It is making yourself involved in some light activities that enable you to move your body that is more beneficial.

One simple way to get rid of thoracic back pain is to know the cause of the pain first. If it is due to an accident, then you might want to consider using cold compact stuff in the area affected. You can use ice packs. Ice packs can remove swelling and inflammation in your back area. Apart from accidents, upper back pains are caused when you are sleeping in a wrong or uncomfortable position. You might want to change your sleeping position or get rid with your mattress. Make sure that your mattress is not too soft or too hard.

If you have been from suffering thoracic back pain because you are stressed with work and due to heavy work schedules, then go for a regular massage and hot bath to relieve your body from the pain and help your body to relax at the same time. There are many remedies that you can use when you feel that your upper back area is aching with pain. No one knows your body better but you alone. So make sure that you know what is going on inside your body. Your doctor is the only person that knows your body apart from you, so you might as well consider their professional advice before you try and go for treatments yourself. Remember, you might know your body well but you are not familiar with how it works especially when you have been experiencing some pain that you don’t usually encounter.

Thoracic back pain might be common with adults yet it is only fair to say that like other people, adults have the chance to treat this and lead a pain free life.

Posted in Lower Back Health | Tagged back pain exercises, thoracic back pain causes, upper back pain causes | Leave a comment

Backache Problems and Treatments

(Posted On January 8, 2012 by Justin)

People experience backache problems at one point of their life. They have to deal with these problemsor else, they will have to suffer back pain for quite some time. There are many reasons why peoplesuffer backache. Those reasons might range from normal ones to serious reasons. Most people aren’tso confident with how backache will affect their life. They know, when they have backache, life willnever be the same for them anymore especially if they don’t know a single thing about backache relief.Backache might be common but you don’t have to worry about dealing this ache when you have enoughknowledge about treatments. People should be informed about the effective ways to get some painrelief and maybe, they will not be scared when they have backache.

There are many backache treatments that you can do and implement. However, you have to makesure that it can really work for you and is effective. The problem with people is that when they heardthat a certain treatment works for their friends or for someone that they know, they already think thatit will also work for them. Different methods of treatment have different effects on different people.Remember that you might have the same backache but you also have different reasons and causeson why you acquire backache. A backache cause by improper posture might just need good posturepractice to get rid of backache. However, when you have a backache cause by a pinched nerve then youneed more than just acquiring a good posture for this matter. This is the perfect example on why youshould not copy a friend’s method of relieving of pain – you have different causes of backaches thus yourequire different methods of backache treatment as well.
Here is the list of common backache causes:

•Muscle Sprain – this is the most common causes of backache. A person feels pain in their backsbecause there is sprain in their back muscle. A sprained muscle can be achieved when youencounter an accident, a bad fall or an injury. You can also get sprained muscles when you walk,run or even when you just sit the whole day in your chair.

•Herniated Disc – is a common back condition which leads to irritation of the spinal nerves andcan cause leg and back pain. Older people are more affected with this condition as their spinaldisc gets vulnerable as they age. Younger people have elastic and sift disc but this changes aspeople grow old.

•Spondylolysis – this is a condition on which the vertebrae are affected. This is typically caused bya stressed fracture of the bone and is especially common in people that overstrain themselves inactivities such as tennis, martial arts and gymnastics.
•Sciatica – this is commonly cause by the compression of the lumbar nerves. Sciatica is commonlyfelt in the lower back causing back pain and down to the leg area of the person. The person withsciatica condition might feel numbness, muscular weakness and difficulty in moving around.

•Osteoarthritis – this is a common condition on older people because most of the time,degradation of the bones happen to people with older age. The symptoms may include loss ofability and often stiffness.

•Obesity – when you are overweight, the tendency is that your back muscles get stress causing
them to get stress and make you feel pain. This is because our body is designed to supportour front area on normal weight and because you are overweight, you are putting too muchpressure and stress over your muscles in the back.

•Wrong Sleeping Posture – when you have a wrong sleeping posture, this will also cause you tofeel pain. This is because you need to find a good sleeping position where your muscles can restand relax after a day’s activities.

•Reduced Muscle Elasticity – This also happens to people with age. When you grow old, yourmuscle’s elasticity is decreased causing you to feel pain when you stretched. Does it soundfamiliar to you that older people should not engage in extra strenuous activities because theirmuscles are not as flexible and elastic as they were before?

•Pregnancy – this is a common stage that most women have to undergo. More often than not,pregnant women experience pain in their backs because of the extra weight that they have tocarry in front of them. And because pregnant women breast tend to grow fuller because theyare also an expectant lactating mother, the weight in their front grow more heavier. This mightalso be caused by the hormonal changes in their bodies.

•Constant Sitting – when you always sit like the whole day in your chair – you too can feelbackaches especially if you don’t have a proper sitting posture. You are putting so muchpressure in your back to support your body especially if you do slouching all the time.

There are many backache treatments that people can do to relieve themselves from pain. However,you have to make sure that you visit your doctor when you feel backache as it might be cause by someunderlying condition that needs to be treated right away. When you are going to your doctor and talkabout your case, you will not only getting the right treatments but as well as knowing the root of theproblem too. After all, no one knows your body better than a specialist person such as doctors.

Posted in General Back Health | Tagged back ache remedies, lower back treatment, treatment for lower back pain | Leave a comment

All about Lower Back Pain

(Posted On January 6, 2012 by Justin)

The common issue with people is that they always feel the same pain – lower back pain. This is not surprising because our back plays the most important role for our body – supporting our body weight. And because we have some issues about our body such as being overweight, it can certainly contribute to back pain. You might be wondering why lower back pain is much common when compared to upper back pain. This is because our lower back muscle area always gets the pressure and stress rather than the upper back muscle area. Apart from it, our upper back area has more support and does not get the direct strained and pressure. People have to understand the reason on why they experience pain to better addressed the pain and get the chance to do some relief method.

People who experience lower back pain are desperate to get rid of the pain because they are not comfortable with the pain. It can cause so much discomfort for them and can affect their daily activity. Instead of working and doing your daily deeds, you end up resting in your bed the whole day because you are feeling severe pain in your lower back. It can be frustrating at times because you feel as if you can’t do anything and this has been the most tiring thing a person can experience especially those people who are workaholic. Apart from that, people who try to work even if they are feeling the pain might have to deal with being unproductive for the day. They might begin to get angry with people around them and this will make you a person look like desperate. Because of this, you have to make sure that you have knowledge on how to treat lower back pain so you can get relief from the pain.

But before you can do these treatments, you have to make sure that you have the complete list on why you feel lower back pain. Below are the following reasons:

REASONS FOR LOWER BACK PAIN

PREGNANCY – this is a condition on which women have to undergo at one point of their life. Pregnant women often experience lower back pain because of the many changes that their body would undergo. The changes include hormonal changes that might affect their weight especially that pregnant women has larger appetite compare to those who are not. When the weight will become heavier, there is a tendency that the spinal column can no longer support the body resulting to pain in the lower back. But this does not mean that all pregnant women will experience lower back pain for the reason that there are some remedies that could be done before having the pain. If you are lucky enough and know how to prevent the pain before it hits you, then the better. It is not easy to experience pain during pregnancy especially that you are in the most crucial stage of being a woman and bearing a life in your womb.
GENDER – there are some people who believe that more men are experiencing back pain rather than women. However, there are also some people who defy the idea especially in the present generation where women and men can work in the same field. For example are those men who are working in the construction sites and doing things manually can have the same pain to those women who needs to stand for a longer period of time. Remember that even sitting and standing for a long period of time will stress your back and your spinal column that could be a reason why one person can experience back pain. Of course, being pregnant is an excuse to this situation. No matter what is your gender but if your work can stress your spinal column and back then you are much prone to back pain.
Height and Weight – the life style that people use to have nowadays are much related to poor diet and unhealthy living. With so many unhealthy foods everywhere and night life that are waiting for everybody, everybody is prone to back pain. Also, one of the resulting factors of the unhealthy living is obesity and does not have proper weight for the height. Take note that there is a designated weight for each height. So, if ever you do not meet the standard, then you are not healthy and you are candidate to back pain. But why does incorrect weight and height are a contributing factor to lower back pain? One stated fact according to many professionals is that “Every pound added to the “gut”, one leading rehabilitation center warns its patients, adds ten pounds of pressure to the spine”. This statement only means that the heavier you are the more pressure you are adding to your spine and the more pressure to your spine, the bigger the tendency that you would experience lower back pain.

There are still more reasons of lower back pains that everybody experience nowadays regardless of race, color and gender and age. But if you are one of those lucky individuals who are not experiencing the famous pain, then better do some things that would help you prevent to have it. After all, “prevention is better than cure”. It is better to stop the causes of lower back pain rather than have to deal with it when it already affects you and your body.

Posted in Lower Back Health | Tagged exercise for lower back pain, lower back pain exercises, treatment for lower back pain | Leave a comment

Upper Back Pain in Women and Men – The Causes

(Posted On January 3, 2012 by Justin)

When you feel a severe pain in your back, you cannot function normally – worst, you get angry easily. People have this tendency to get mad when they feel pain. Do you ever encounter a sick person and the people around you tells you that you should be careful because the person is quite frustrated and gets angry over some small things? It is true – sick person or a person that feels pain in their body is irritated individuals. Apart from that, it can cause the people around you to distance them from you and that would make you alone. When you feel back pain, do not push people away. This is the time where you need a helping hand and a comfort that you deserve. Upper back pain in women and men are among the most common pain most people feels at one point of their life.

It is a pain they have to bear every time it attacks them. The bad thing about back pain is that it does not only gives you discomfort during the time of pain but as well as can attack you anytime – when you are sitting, walking, moving or even when you sleep. Surprisingly, these are also the common causes or the actions that triggers back pain. Back pain when explained thoroughly is the irritation or inflammation of the nerves and even strained and stressed muscles. This can be achieved when you over use your body like you spend your whole day sitting in your office with no break at all – you don’t even bother to stand up to relax your back muscles as it can get stressed due to frequent leaning every time you look and work at your computer station. When we run, we also put our muscles at risk to getting strained and this is another way to develop back pain.

When our body is at motion, the greater risk it is for our muscles and bones to get constrained. People must realize that our back muscles are complicated ones and that you have to let them rest once in a while to keep yourself from suffering back pain. Just because you think you are not tired, your body is not tired too. You might say that you can do working over time without resting but your body is not designed to do such things. We are not like robots – we need to rest and relax. Even robots needs to relax too when their batteries run out of life and energy. The common problem with people is that they are always in a hurry and is leading a very busy life that they don’t have the time to relax already. Remember, our body is our only capital source when it comes to working. The moment is gets damage and broke, you can’t do anything about it and even your money cannot help you. After all, you work to enjoy your fruits of labor and not because you want to spend your money on medical bills, right?

Here are the common causes of upper back pain women and men:

Common causes of Upper Back Pain

Our back area is one of the most important parts of our body – it supports our front part and is the one protecting our spinal cords – the cord connected and which sends signals to our brains. We move, eat, work and feel because of our brain. First thing first, our back is divided into two sections – the upper back and the lower back. The most common part that experience pain is the lower back since it is always the one that gets the stress. However, when upper back pain occurs, it can also cause the same discomfort though this is very rare case. Below are the lists of upper back pain causes:

Poor posture – people might not aware of it but they might develop a bad habit of bad posture. This is very common for people whose job requires to sit long hours in front of the computer. Rather than doing the right posture, it is much easier to slump down their shoulder and develop a bad posture. People have this habit of not sitting properly and maybe the presence of bad chair also contributes to the reasons.
Obesity – if you are overweight, then it can also cause you to suffer upper back pain. People carrying excess weight in any area of their bodies might possibly pull off another area which can cause pain.
Pregnancy – at one point of their life, women will have to experience pregnancy. When you are pregnant, upper back pain is common. This is because you are adding excess weight in your front area and since your body is used to your normal weight, then it the muscles in your back area has to stressed itself to be able to support your weight. This might also be caused by hormonal changes in your body.
Lack of Strength – this is very common between older people. If you have weak muscles between your shoulder blades, this will cause problem over time. It if is weak in that area, meaning it will compensate in other area. The reason why we have problems is that because of our busy and hectic schedule, we don’t have enough time to treat the weak muscles and so it can get weaker and weaker each passing day and can cause upper back pain problems.

Posted in Upper Back Health | Tagged causes of upper back pain, stretches for upper back pain, upper back pains | Leave a comment

Upper Back Pain Treatments

(Posted On December 19, 2011 by Justin)

Upper back pain is not so common pain when compared to lower back pain. Most people experience lower back pain more often but however, when people feel upper back pain, it can also cause them too much discomfort and irritableness. The same thing with the lower back pain – they can’t work better, they can’t get productive and most of all, they become completely useless since they are required to lie down on their bed and take some full rest. Among other things, people being so busy and take for granted their health are one of the most common mistake that people commit. They don’t rest as long as they feel that their body is fine. They don’t relax because they want to work and work and work until they achieved what they want. And the moment that they feel the pain, that’s the time they will rest and slowed down from all the activities.

See? People are unaware that body pain can be prevented when they just learned the word relax and rest. Your muscles and bones gets strained and stressed due to overuse. It’s not because you are just sitting the whole day in your office means you are not overusing your muscles and bones – in fact, you are putting enough stress to it. Imagine, when you are sitting in your chair for longer hours, the tendency is that you will develop a poor sitting posture because admit or not, good sitting posture is so hard to do especially when you have to do it for longer hours – instead of straightening your shoulders and maintaining a proper body posture which is quite tiring to do, you end up slumping your shoulder and position yourself in the chair where you are most comfortable without actually knowing that it is not a good position at all.

The moment you feel the nagging pain, address it immediately. Do not wait for the pain to grow more severe. Go to your doctor right away especially if you don’t know that is the reason for the pain. Asking a friend who have been into the issue can also be effective but doesn’t give you full assurance that you can address the pain and get rid of it. Your friend’s pain cause might be different from yours from all you know. When you talk with your doctor, you are sure that the root o the problem can be traced up and addressed carefully too. Doctors are authentic persons that can deal with body pain and have the legalities to produce and confirm diagnosis. The problem also with people is that they are too much afraid to see their doctors not just because it can add up to their expenses but as well as they are afraid that their doctors might diagnose something in their body. Most of the time, people find it hard to accept the truth – really.

What people don’t know is that when they get themselves check up and find out that they have something going on with their bodies, it is great idea because you might do some actions to prevent the certain condition from getting severe or worst. Upper back pain might be a common pain most people experience but it doesn’t mean you just have to ignore it and let the pain subside on its own. You have to do something and get rid of it – the sooner, the better. You can go back to your normal daily activities and live your normal life again.

Here are some treatments that you can implement:

UPPER BACK PAIN TREATMENT

EXERCISE – when you can, exercise regularly. When you do this, you are making your bones and muscles flexible. The most common reason why our muscles gets inflamed and strained is because they are not strong enough to withstand daily wear and tear. When you move, you always use your muscles to support your body and this is also the time when your muscles are at risk of getting strained. When you have strong and flexible muscles, you don’t have to worry about strained anymore. Aside from making our muscles strong and elastic, exercise can also help you in dealing with your weight. Exercise is known to burn fats and calories. Obesity, on the other hand is also one of the most common reason why people experience upper back pain.

PAIN MEDICATION – pain killers have long been proved to deal with “stopping” the pain. You just have to make sure that those medicines aren’t addictive and do not inflict harmful side effects.

HEAT AND COLD – applying both heat and cold – whichever you prefer – will give you instant relief. Both are perfect to block pain.

MASSAGE – a simple massage by the authorized therapist can give you relief from upper back pain.

Apart from above mention treatments, you can also implement some tips in dealing with back pain.

Find a perfect sleeping position. Even sleeping position can contribute to having back pain.
Sit on chairs that have good back support. Sitting on a chair that is not right will also cause you to have back pain.
Avoid standing at a stretch for a long time. This will cause your muscles to get strained.
Sleep on a not so firm mattress. A bad mattress will only trigger back pain.
Take some herbal medications. However, make sure that it is prescribed by your doctor.

Posted in Upper Back Health | Tagged back pain symptoms, pain in upper back, upper back pain symptoms | Leave a comment

Fixing a Sore Neck

(Posted On December 15, 2011 by Justin)

People affected with sore neck might find it hard to do even a simple turning of head. It can befrustrating at times especially if you are sleeping. You have to find a sleeping position that would nothurt your neck. This is uncomfortable at times because when you sleep sideways, there is no way youcannot feel the pain. And this is will always caused you discomfort since sleeping should be the timewhen you can relax and rejuvenate for tomorrows activities. People affected with sore neck are quitedesperate to look for ways to treat the excruciating pain. However, what people do not understand isthat the pain will be treated the moment you know the cause of the pain in the first place. You mightnot just “cure” it but maybe, you can prevent sore neck from affecting you.

The old cliché still works – prevention is better than cure. The problem with people is that they are toocareless with their bodies and they don’t actually give any care whether that they are doing can causethem pain in the near future. They are only after the instant effect. So when they feel that there is nodanger for now, they will keep doing those things and doesn’t exert an effort to stop it. What peopledoesn’t know is that it would be do them better if they prevent the pain from coming and affecting theirbody. It would be hard to deal if you already have the sore and neck pain because it would make youdesperate and a lot of people knows how desperation can work and inflict damage to the person. Youmight end up trying to do the wrong thing because of the desperation to get away from pain. In theprocess, you might endanger yourself and put yourself at health. Therefore, when you know the causesof sore neck, it would be a big advantage on your part.

SORE NECK CAUSES

The following are the most common causes of sore neck:

• Whiplash Injury – this is one of the most common causes of neck soreness among people.This condition can happen when there is a sudden acceleration and deceleration of force –commonly from vehicle accident. The common symptoms of this condition are the following:-jaw pain-arm pain-neck pain-dizziness-shoulder painPsychological Symptoms-anxiety-depression-anger

• Neck Arthritis – This is caused by the degeneration of the bones or the intervertebral disc
located in the neck. This condition usually occurs to people with age and mostly affected peoplewith age 40 up. Stiffness of the neck, pain in the base of the skull that usually radiates from the shoulder and arms are the common symptoms of this condition.

• Posture Problems – a person might be unaware but improper posture can contribute to theneck problems and pain. A person should understand how important proper posture is whetheryou are sitting, walking or even sleeping.

When you aware with these causes, you might be able to avoid getting sore neck or if the first signof sore neck, you can do something about it. When you are old and getting sore neck is expected,then you might just want to get yourself proper medication and treatment especially those peoplewho encounter accidents too.

SORE NECK TREATMENTS

Diagnosis of the real condition of the causes of sore neck is important since it is the only way thatyou can determine which action you should take. The first and foremost thing that you should do istaking rest and restricting movements from your neck as you might just worsen your case – if youare just feeling a mild pain, it can increase to severe pain when you move your neck frequently. Hereare some methods on which you can get relief from the neck pain that you are feeling:

• Massage – if the sore neck is cause by sore muscles, then a nice massage will eventually
make you free from the pain. A massage will let the muscle relax and get rid from knots andtightness. However, make sure that you only do the massage with the authorize person onlysuch as therapist – you might end up getting more problems rather than fixing the problem.

• Put some Ice – Take a bag of ice and place it the pain area. It can numb the pain and giveyou instant relief.

• Hot bath – like back pain or any pain in your body, a nice hot bath always do the tricks.When you take hot bath, the heat will sooth the muscles and relieves the pain.• Neck Exercises – exercises can help you reduce your pain. These exercises can be done inan upright position or when you are sitting. Exercise always does wonders when it comes tostretching your muscles and bones.

• Chiropractic – this is a method which included the manipulation of spinal cord andadjustment of disc. The most common reason for sore neck is a pinched nerve thusunpinching it and alignment will reduce the pain in no time.

Sore neck is quite difficult especially for people who have jobs to do and families to attend to. However,things would be easier for them if they try to relax and take some rest every now and then. After all,nothing can beat the power of total rest and relaxation.

Posted in Upper Back Health | Tagged neck and shoulder stretches, sore neck and upper back, upper back neck pain | Leave a comment

Back Pain and Epidural Treatment

(Posted On December 12, 2011 by Justin)

When you are having back pain, one thing that you really want is to get rid of the pain. You know how irritating and uncomfortable it is when you have back pain. Of course, your first initial solution would be to take rest and lie down on your bed the whole day. However, you just can’t possibly lie the whole day and do nothing while waiting for the pain to subside. There might be cases on which back pain subsides just by simply resting your back – this is possible when you just get your muscle strained due to overusing muscles. However, it has been studied and been proved that there are many cases on which a simple back pain is not only caused by simple overusing of muscles and getting it strained. Some cases might have an underlying serious case for back pain issues. And this should be the thing people should be prepared off.

When it comes to getting rid of the pain, people can only rely to one thing – treatments and cure. However, it is not so easy which treatments you should choose because there are many choices and you might be overwhelmed. Instead of picking the right treatment for your back pain, you ended up picking the wrong one and in the process, you didn’t get pain relief. Much worse, you might worsen your case and this is such a scary thing to happen to you. Back pain is already a burden for you and another pain or condition is the last thing that you need. You should not also follow a friend’s advice for always. A friend might have the serious attention to help you but that doesn’t mean they cannot do things of unintentionally “hurt” you. You have to remember that a friend’s situation and the level of their pain might be different from yours so therefore, you also need different treatment from them.

Different causes of pain needs different treatments as well. For example, when you acquire the back pain due to wrong position of sleeping or due to using wrong mattress, then you can’t possibly go for back surgery. You only need to have a good sleeping posture and use the right mattress. Moreover, it also depends on your current health condition. When you are pregnant, you are not required to take any pain killers without the prescription of your doctor because it might harm your baby. When you are having heart problems, you are also not allowed to take any medication without permit from your doctors. You are also now allow to use TENS unit – the machine that sends off electrical impulses to your nerves. There are really some limitations that you have to know. Just because you want to get rid of the back pain you are then allowed to take any treatment. Bottom line is, always ask for your doctors approval before using any treatment.

One of the most common treatments used today is using epidural for back pain. Epidural is a type of anesthesia that is used for women who happened to just give birth – it will numb the pain they feel as the after effect of the child birth. Epidural aren’t just useful for pregnant women but also can be used in many ways such as people suffering from back pain. However, because there are not enough studies that claim epidural to be a pain reliever, almost half of the patient that received epidural treatment gets pain relief. However, there are less data that claims about the effectiveness of it and about the long term effects of this injection.

WHAT IS EPIDURAL?

Only qualified doctors are allowed to give this anaesthetic which can be passed through a needle and a catheter through the epidural space. Sometimes referred to as the extradural space, epidural space is situated in the spinal canal before the spinal cord. The epidural space contains soft tissues and veins. Medical experts say that epidural have one purpose and that is to lower pain sensation and is most commonly given during childbirth. The moment that epidural is used to manage back pain; the solution injected is a mixture of analgesics and steroids. Epidural should only be given by an anesthetist who knows where the epidural space is located. This can be secured when you position the patient suitably. Before anything else, the anesthetist should numb the skin area before inserting the guidance needle to find the epidural space. Of course, when they don’t do this, the patient will feel severe pain.

The moment that space is found, a very fine tube is passed and the drugs are injected. The anesthetist can left the tube inside which is also connected to a machine that will determine the solution at intervals. When improperly done, you are putting your spinal cord at great danger. This is the very reason why a certified anesthetist should administer the injection of epidural.

Although not that popular method in getting pain relief, epidural is definitely something that can give people relief – lack of study about this drugs concerning back pain relief is not yet done by the experts but the fact that is used to numb the pain mothers feel after child birth is enough basis that this injection might also work for you. Like any treatments and medications, epidural usage should be at least reach the knowledge of your doctor before going on with the treatment.