Stop Low Back Pain

Anatomy of The Back

The back vertebrae are the bones in the spine that protect the spinal cord. They protect the spinal cord and help stabilize and support your body.

The low back is made up of five lumbar vertebrae, the sacrum and coccyx. The lumbar vertebrae are located in the lower back and provide support for the spine. The sacrum is a triangular shaped bone that connects to the hip bones and provides stability to the pelvis. The coccyx is made up of four fused vertebrae that are located at the end of the spine.

The low back has many muscles that work together to provide stability, movement and flexibility. These muscles include:

• Erector spinae
• Multifidus
• Quadratus lumborum
• Iliopsoas
• Rectus abdominis
• Psoas major

The Causes of Low Back Pain

Low back pain can be caused by many things… It is most often caused by muscle strain, injury, or a medical condition. The muscles in your back support the spine and help you bend and twist. When these muscles are strained or injured, they can cause low back pain.

Some other causes of low back pain include:

• Osteoarthritis
• Spinal stenosis
• Sacroiliac joint dysfunction
• Disc herniation
• Degenerative disc disease

One of the most common causes of back pain is sciatica, which is a herniated disc in the lumbar spine. The disc can be damaged by age, obesity, or trauma. The herniation can press on the exiting nerve root and cause pain, numbness and tingling in one or both legs.

Sciatica is a condition that affects the sciatic nerve which runs from your lower back down to your feet. It is often caused by a problem with one of the discs in your spinal column, but it can also be caused by other conditions such as arthritis or a tumor.

The Best Way To Stop Low Back Pain

The best way to stop sciatica and low back pain is by identifying the root cause of the problem and fixing it. Taking pain killers, resting, icing, wearing braces, etc will never fix your low back and are, at best, very mediocre solutions.

I fully understand how a person would grasp at any straw to help get out of chronic back pain and I understand that you may have severe pain, but they key is to understand the fundamental issues behind the pain and deal with them head on. Otherwise, back pain will only continue and likely, get worse over time.

In my experience, people experience chronic lower back pain, because of some basic postural distortions caused by living in our modern world. We sit way too much and do not move our bodies in the way they were meant to, nor do we move nearly enough, in general. Our bodies tend to harden into unnatural shapes and it gets very hard to undo the damage of decades of a sedentary lifestyle. Sometimes, the distortions are hard to see on the surface, but they are always there.

And those postural distortions force the spine and spinal cord into a bad position. From there, a lot of stress is places on the delicate discs, between the vertebrae and this can lead to injury in the delicate spinal nerves, causing chronic back pain, sciatic nerve pain, etc. The way to stop low back pain is to get the spine back into proper position and take the stress of the discs and spinal cord.

Manipulations by a chiropractor may give you temporary pain relief (1-2 days), but the spine will adjust back where they were before the treatment, since the muscles do not have the strength to hold the spine in that new position. And that means little to no reduction in long term back pain.

Other treatments, like acupuncture DO NOT relieve pain, because they do not change the muscle imbalances that cause back pain. So, they are like band-aids, instead of fixing the root cause. Again, that will not reverse chronic low back pain either.

Postural Distortions Cause Low Back Pain

So, the beginning stage is to identify what kind of postural distortions you have and why they might be putting too much stress on the spine or muscles in the low back. You can expect the low back to be extremely sensitive to any movement that could make it worse. So, it’s super important to move gently and carefully to help ensure you do not make it worse.

Typically, people tend to have Lordosis, Kyphosis, flat back, or neutral. Imagine your hips are like a table and there is a bucket of water on top of them. Is the bucket allowing water to spill out the front or the back? Is your butt tucking under your hips or pushing out too far?

These are just a few quick ways to start isolating your posture. In my Low Back Program, I take you through all of this, so you can quickly understand your specific posture. Then, I take you through the exact exercises you need to fix it.

You see, it is absolutely critical that you do not do anything that re-enforces the muscle imbalances that are throwing your low back out of whack. So, not only do you want to avoid the things (as much as possible) that are causing the postural distortion (like too much sitting), but you also want to avoid doing certain exercises that might actually make your low back pain even worse.

For example, let’s say your hamstrings are super tight and strong, but your quads are weak. You will want to make sure you focus on exercises that strengthen the quads, while learning to relax and release the hamstrings (yes, you can do it!). Otherwise, you could just keep making your hamstrings tighter and stronger. It’s a question of balancing the front and back, so your spine can sit in the right position.

Should You Have Back Surgery?

Now, there may be some cases when your doctor may suggest back surgery to relieve pain. It can be done for different reasons, but surgery usually involves removing bone spurs and other materials that are pressing against the spinal cord or nerves. If you have severe pain on your back, you should consult with your doctor to see if you need a back surgery.

The most common surgery for back pain is spinal fusion. In this procedure, two or more of the patient’s vertebrae are fused together to limit movement and relieve pressure on the nerves.

The most common reason for back surgery is degenerative disc disease, which is a condition that occurs when the discs between the vertebrae of the spine wear down. The second most common reason for back surgery is spinal stenosis, which is a condition that occurs when there is narrowing of the spinal canal and nerve roots are compressed.

Please, be aware that up to 40% of back surgeries fail to get the patient out of back pain and in many cases, the pain worsens. Ideally, your doctor will recommend a good low back rehab program, but it is always best to get a good medical diagnosis first about what is causing pain.

A Great Rehab Program Can Stop Low Back Pain

Yes, a great Low Back Pain Rehab Program can and will dramatically fix those muscle imbalances that are causing your postural distortions. By strengthening the weak muscles and relaxing the tight muscles, your spine will slowly come back into proper position. That will take the stress off your delicate discs and stop chronic low back pain.

You start by identifying your specific postural distortions and muscle imbalances and then move into a great rehab program that focuses on excellent form, exercises, stretches and other techniques to get your body back into good alignment.

It does not happen overnight, but it does work faster than you would think. And, considering the alternatives (pain killers that don’t work very well and have terrible side effects, surgery, living with chronic pain, etc), rehab is usually the best option, since it is all natural, has no side effects and works long term to stop low back pain for good.

So, we highly recommend either doing physical therapy (please find a really, really good physical therapist!) or use our Low Back Pain Rehab Program, which you can do entirely at home, without any equipment.

The only real con of physical therapy is that you need to make sure the person really knows what they’re doing, and it can be very expensive and time-consuming. In the end, you just have to choose the best option for you.

If you would like to try our Low Back Program, please check out the video below… All you have to do is follow along with Scott through the step by step videos, on any device, and he will take you through everything you need to do until your chronic low back pain is gone.

In addition, it will help you protect your low back and help prevent another back injury as well as significantly lowering your risk of any back pain returning again.