Chronic Back Pain Cause

Although many of us suffer from chronic back pain, few people can identify the cause of their pain. Understanding a chronic back pain cause, and other back pain factors, can often be a key ingredient to preventing, treating AND overcoming back pain.

When back pain is an isolated instance it is often caused simply by a "bad move".

However...

When pain is chronic there are typically many more factors that come into play.

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Back Pain Factors

Whether it's lower back pain, upper back pain, or middle back pain, there are several back pain factors to consider.

Physical back pain - When someone has incurred a back injury it is not uncommon for them to experience repetitive bouts of pain.

More than one back pain specialist has told me that the mere fact I have previously had a back problem predisposes me to continued back pain flare-ups, and chronic back pain. They were right!

What we do for work, or even pleasure, can be a chronic back pain cause. Activities such as repeatedly lifting heavy objects, straining the lower back when bending, or not having correct sitting posture, while doing computer work or watching television, can all have a direct impact.

Other physical conditions such as spinal osteoarthritis, osteoarthritis, spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, fibromyalgia, sciatica, or a herniated disk can also have an adverse affect on back health.

Psychological back pain - Many medical authorities, one notably, John Sarno, M.D., concur that a primary chronic back pain cause is psychological in nature.

In his books, The Mind-Body Connection and Healing Back Pain, Dr. Sarno discusses the psychology of Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS), which he believes is the major cause of the common syndromes of pain involving the neck, shoulders, back, buttocks and limbs.

We can probably all think of an instance whereby we were participating in a really FUN activity and suddenly realized that our pain seemed to subside. When this happens it reinforces the notion that MAYBE part of our pain is psychological and that there is some validity to the notion of using the mind over back pain.

Another psychological chronic back pain cause...

How many times are we having a "bad day", when absolutely everything seems to be going wrong? I know many back pain sufferers, including myself, who say that on days like this their pain is much worse. Perhaps it is actually stress that is causing our discomfort.

Back pain caused by lack of understanding - Educating ourselves about our own pain is crucial to overcoming back pain.

If a person who spends their day lifting heavy loads isn't aware of the connection between doing that type of work and back pain, they are not likely to learn alternate ways to do their job.

There are many available resources for dealing with back pain, books, back pain specialists, the Internet, and forums and blogs. By utilizing these and gaining a better understanding of a chronic back pain cause there is often greater hope for back pain relief.