Common Causes of Low Back Pain

Postural Causes:

The most common cause of low back pain is postural stress. 

Thus low back pain is frequently brought on by sitting for a long time in a poor position or prolonged bending in bad working positions heavy lifting and standing and lying for a long time in a poor position.  The low back is rounded and the lordosis has disappeared. 

Unfortunately many people lose the lordosis much of the time and seldom or never increase it to its very maximum. If you reduce the lordosis for long periods at a time, year in, year out, and never properly restore it, you will eventually lose the ability to form the hollow. 

It is known that a flattened low back is frequently associated with chronic low back problems.Most people naturally have a lordosis in the low back when they walk or run, and these activities often help to relieve low back pain.

When we are standing the lordosis is naturally present but in some individuals, when the standing posture is maintained for a long time, the lordosis can become excessive and pain will be produced of a different nature than that occurring during prolonged bending.

Of all these postural stresses the poor sitting posture is by far the one most commonly at fault. A poor sitting posture in itself may produce low back pain.

Once low back problems have developed, a poor sitting posture will perpetuate or worsen those problems. Poor standing postures and poor lying postures are also frequent causes of back pain. 

You may have already found that your back pain appears only if you stand for long periods or only after you get into bed. Pain that behaves in this way is frequently caused by poor posture alone. If this is the case, it is easily rectified. 

Pain of postural origin will not occur if you avoid prolonged overstretching. Should pain develop, it is an almost certain indication that you have fallen into a poor position and immediate steps must be taken to correct your posture. 

Once the nature of your postural problem has been identified and you become aware of the steps you must take to correct it, you should not have to seek assistance whenever postural pain arises.