If I walked into a room full of adults and asked 'Who in this room has experienced lower back pain at some point in their lifetime?', I would expect to see a lot of hands in the air!
Lower back pain is one of the most common painful conditions experienced by our population today and yet it is also one of the most misunderstood!
There are so many fear-provoking beliefs around lower back pain and this post aims to bust some of those myths!
Lower back pain myths and beliefs
Our lower backs are weak - This couldn't be further from the truth, our lumbar spine is incredibly strong, the vertebrae are actually more robust in our lumbar spine, the intervertebral discs become thicker and larger in circumference the further down the spine you go and the spine is incredibly well supported by surrounding soft tissue structures.
Poor posture causes lower back pain - This is a belief that I hear from my clients all of the time, and it's not surprising given how much this idea has been drummed into us over the years. But we now know that posture has very little to do with back pain, or any other kind of pain for that matter. One person may have what is deemed as the 'ideal' posture (who decided on that anyway!) and have severe lower back pain, while another may have what is deemed as 'poor' posture and have no back pain at all. While poor posture is not a cause of lower back pain, it is possible that being in one position for a long period may lead to some irritation of the lower back, our bodies are designed to move, so try breaking up long periods of inactivity with some movement.
Persistent lower back pain means you've injured something or 'slipped' a disc- Persistent lower back pain is rarely an indication of an injury, our bodies heal well and if a soft tissue injury has occurred, it is likely that this will have healed within 3 months. Disc changes are often blamed for persistent lower back pain, but there is poor correlation between disc changes and persistent pain and our discs can also heal, so that disc herniation that you had 20 years ago is unlikely to be the cause of your lower back pain today. Persistent pain is complex and there are many factors that can contribute to it such as stress, inadequate sleep, tension, fatigue, anxiety and inactivity.
Age and wear-and-tear are the main causes of lower back pain - Although it is likely that we will see some natural changes in the spine with age, these changes do not determine that we will have back pain. Loading and movement of the spine through everyday activities make the spine stronger and healthier, they do not cause it to 'wear out'.
A weak core causes lower back pain - Like any other muscle group of the body, having strong core muscles can be good in many ways, but having a weak core is not a cause of lower back pain. Often people with lower back pain tense their core muscles too much, our spines are designed to move and if we brace our core all of the time to carry out general movements, we prevent natural movement of the spine, which may lead to further lower back pain and the abdominal muscles becoming hypertonic and fatigued.
Lower back pain in movement or exercise means you are damaging your back - Exercise and movement are good for our backs, if you experience pain in movement or exercise, it is unlikely to be due to tissue damage and more likely to be due to an increased sensitivity of the structures of the back. Remember that hurt doesn't equal harm. If you have lower back pain and are new to, or just getting back to exercise, start with gentle exercise and light loading and gradually build it up, lower back pain should reduce over time as you become more active.
Bending and lifting is bad for your back - we are often told that when we bend and lift something we should bend our knees and keep our backs straight, while this can be helpful advice in some situations, it is not always practical and bending the spine to lift something is not necessarily a bad thing. When it can cause a problem is when we suddenly start bending and lifting heavy things after not doing it at all. Bending our spines to lift something puts stress through the spine, but our bodies respond well to stress and become stronger and more resilient over time. Building the lower back's tolerance of bending and lifting by using these movements regularly and gradually increasing load will mean that when it comes to a time when you do need to bend and lift something heavy, your body will be well prepared to do so and you are less likely to irritate your lower back.
If a certain movement / activity caused your lower back pain, you should avoid doing that particular thing again - our backs are designed to move in a variety of different ways and just because you believe that a particular movement may have been the cause of your lower back pain once (and this is often difficult to accurately determine), it doesn't mean that it will cause it again. Avoiding particular movements or things that you enjoy doing, or need to do is often not a very practical or effective strategy in preventing pain, in fact fear avoidance and negative thoughts which may arise from feeling unable to do the things that you want to do, are more likely to elevate your pain. Instead, take a similar approach to that mentioned in the previous point and gradually build up your body's tolerance of this activity / movement.
Hopefully I've helped to dispel some of the fear-provoking myths around lower back pain and built your confidence in your body's resilience and ability to heal and move freely.
One of the most important points that I'd like you to take away is that lower back pain is a normal part of life, it can be horrible, debilitating, frustrating and exhausting (I've been there myself), but it is very rarely a sign of something more serious. Rest assured that for around 80-90% of people with a flare-up of general lower back pain, this pain will significantly reduce on it's own within 6 weeks.
Just keep moving!
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