Nursefriendly.com: back support

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Why Your Back Hurts: The Surprising Causes of Low Back Pain - Chronic Pain - Health.com

content provided by Healthwise
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Most low back pain is triggered by some combination of overuse, muscle strain, and injury to the muscles, ligaments, and discs that support the spine. Many experts believe that over time muscle strain can lead to an overall imbalance in the spinal structure. This leads to a constant tension on the muscles, ligaments, bones, and discs, making the back more prone to injury or reinjury.

The causes of pain in the low back, or lumbosacral region, tend to add on to one another. For example, after straining muscles, you are likely to walk or move in different ways to avoid pain or to use muscles that aren't sore. That can cause you to strain other muscles that don't usually move that way.

The most common causes of low back pain are:

Injury or overuse of muscles, ligaments, facet joints, and the sacroiliac joints.

Pressure on nerve roots in the spinal canal. Nerve root compression can be caused by:
A herniated disc, often brought on by repeated vibration or motion (as during machine use or sport activity, or when lifting improperly), or by a sudden heavy strain or increased pressure to the lower back.

Osteoarthritis (joint degeneration), which typically develops with age. When osteoarthritis affects the small facet joints in the spine, it can lead to back pain. Osteoarthritis in other joints, such as the hips, can cause you to limp or to change the way you walk. This can also lead to back pain.

Spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis, vertebra defects that can allow a vertebra to slide over another when aggravated by certain activities.

Spinal stenosis, or narrowing of the spinal canal, which typically develops with age.

Fractures of the vertebrae caused by significant force, such as from an auto or bicycle accident, a direct blow to the spine, or compressing the spine by falling onto the buttocks or head.

Spinal deformities, including curvature problems such as severe scoliosis or kyphosis.

Compression fractures. Compression fractures are more common among postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, or in men or women after long-term corticosteroid use. In a person with osteoporosis, even a small amount of force put on the spine, as from a sneeze, may cause a compression fracture.

via health.com

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Monday, December 13, 2010

It All Comes Down to Posture My Friend, Putmebacktogether.com

So we’ve all seen it… the elderly male who presents with such an exaggerated forward-flexed posture it looks as though he will fall over if not for the cane propping up his torso with every step, or the middle aged woman who’s “hunch” or kyphosis is accentuated further by her significant loss of lordosis, stiff pelvis, and short hamstrings. Certainly age related changes and conditions occur, we become stiff, our bones become brittle and our discs become more rigid and narrow. Aside from this, far too many cases of preventable postural deformities occur and unfortunately, once a person is in the later stages of life they are almost impossible to correct.

Of course posture related deformities are no longer exclusive to the older population, it is now more prevalent than ever in our youth. Children and teenagers are receiving increased medical care for posture related conditions; chronic back pain is at the top of the list. I see far too many young men and women with significant slouched postures. Imagine how many hours are spent in front of the TV or computer today vs. even 10 years ago. The last statistic I read stated up to 6-7 hours per day! Paired with a lack of awareness and decreased activity, poor posture is an epidemic in our society and one that is not going away any time soon.

Therefore, it is increasingly important for those of us in the healthcare field, especially in the Physical Therapy profession, to educate our patients and their families on the importance of using proper posture with daily activities while increasing physical activity. In addition, we need to increase awareness of the deformity that can occur later in life and the painful conditions that may occur right now. I always tell patients the best thing they can do to improve their posture is to simply to, “be aware of it.” Aware of it in the car, aware of it on the bus, aware of it at their desks, aware if it as they are standing, walking, squatting, sitting, bending, talking, exercising, cleaning, playing, eating and most of all when they are doing any of these things for a prolonged period of time. Let’s teach our youth to be proactive; a little effort today will go a long way and will likely prevent illness and injury in the future. Does it really surprise you that you’re Mothers and Grandmothers were right?

Read more about author Holly Zahler

via putmebacktogether.com

Let's see, back pain, injury is the #1 cause of disability amount the nursing occupations. Ever wonder if your posture factoring into it? Maybe you should.