Preventing Back Pain Is Among the Most Common Questions

As a practicing physical therapist with over 30 years of experience, I am often asked questions about health topics and individual health problems.  In order to better serve the community, I would like to post short articles on topics of interest to the general public to this blog.  

If you have questions about the topics I present or other questions regarding physical therapy or health issues, please contact me through this venue and I will respond in kind.  One of the most common questions I am asked is what people can do to prevent back pain.  Therefore, that will be the topic of this post.

Preventing Back Pain

Statistics show that 90 percent of us will have back pain at some time in our lives.  However, many episodes of back pain could be prevented if we followed some simple rules and a few easy exercises. 

Prevention of lower back pain is accomplished with an integrated program of postural improvements and sensible exercise.  Posture is a learned activity and most of us don’t learn it well. 

Most of us slump, which puts a lot of stress on the structures in the lower back.  It places an abnormal stretch on the muscles and ligaments in the back and decreases blood supply to the muscles and ligaments, causing pain. 

Prevention consists of following these simple guidelines: 

• 1.  Always maintain good posture, which means, head balanced over the shoulders and a natural lower back curve.
•  2.  Never sit for long periods of time.  Take regular breaks from sitting, even when sitting at your desk or driving.
•  3.  Maintain lower back flexibility by doing proper lower back exercises.
•  4.  Sleep on a firm mattress.  If your bed is too soft, replace it or put a bed board between the mattress and box springs.  If you wake with back pain, it could be your mattress.
•  5.  Sit in chairs with good back support.  Use a small towel roll or a lumbar roll while sitting to maintain the normal lower back curve.
•  6.  When lifting, do so with your legs, not by bending over at the waist.  Never twist while lifting and get help if the load is too heavy or awkward.
•  7.  Never do any exercises that create or increase lower back pain.
•  8.  Keep your weight within a normal range.  Five extra pounds in the front is like 50 pounds to your lower back.

Physical therapists are experts about proper back exercise and posture.  If you have questions about your current exercise program or lower back problems, contact your doctor about a referral to a physical therapist for expert assessment and assistance.