What is Back Pain?

Acute or short-term low back pain generally lasts from a few days to a few weeks. Most acute back pain is the result of trauma to the lower back or a disorder such as arthritis. Pain from trauma may be caused by a sports injury, work around the house or in the garden, or a sudden jolt such as a car accident or other stress on spinal bones and tissues. Symptoms may range from muscle ache to shooting or stabbing pain, limited flexibility and range of motion, or an inability to stand straight. Chronic back pain is pain that persists for more than 3 months. It is often progressive and the cause can be difficult to determine.

Currently, researchers are examining the use of different drugs to effectively treat back pain, in particular, chronic pain that has lasted at least 6 months. Other studies are comparing different health care approaches to the management of acute low back pain (standard care versus chiropractic, acupuncture, or massage therapy). These studies are measuring symptom relief, restoration of function, and patient satisfaction.

Women Face More Back Pain

Back pain is a big problem for woman all over the world. A third of the average sixteen to twenty four year old female has already had some back pain. Of women who are between forty-five and sixty five years old at least fifty percent have suffered some back pain. There are more women then men who suffer from pain in their backs and the pain they have is worse and lasts longer then that of their male counterparts. With men their backaches are more often caused by an injury. With a woman their pain comes from the things they must deal with everyday of their lives.

Women can have back pain because of many triggers. The most common are from things they do at home like lifting, gardening and vacuuming. Periods can be a trigger for back pain. Pregnancy is frequently a back pain issue with up to sixty percent of all pregnant women having some back pain especially during the last trimester. When it comes to injuries that can cause back pain women are more likely to suffer from these and they will heal slower.

Woman are also more likely to get hurt on the job especially as they more often work in health care services, retailing, hotel and catering. A huge number of nurses hurt their backs every year; nearly five percent of them will be unable to return to nursing. Back injuries cause more workdays to be missed by woman in a single year than any other problem. One of the reasons for this is the type of jobs woman have. Many of them are high-risk vocations because the job involves repetitive motion or pulling, pushing or lifting. Examples of the kind of jobs that put woman at risk for back pain include factory workers, cashiers, telephone operators and data entry workers. So are bank tellers, who stand all day, and teachers or care givers of small children.

Then these hard working woman come home and must prepare meals, clean house, feed the baby, do the laundry and the remainder of the household jobs. So many of these jobs include bending, lifting, standing and twisting. All prime risk factors for back pain, as is breastfeeding, leaning over a crib and picking up children of any size.

Even when a woman wants to dress up she is at risk for back problems. Those heels she loves so much can increase the pain in her back. Tight clothes affect ease of movement. Even a woman's bust can be a back pain issue. Too large and the weight is hard on her back. Too small and no man looks twice.

Women cannot stop all the things they do just to try to prevent back pain. Children need their mothers and the things they do for them. The jobs they have outside the home are necessary for the income but as well their skills are needed in these jobs. There's no easy solution for the hard working women of the world.

Written by: Scott Parat