Back and Neck Pain

As we get older, back and neck pain becomes extremely common. 

The condition affects not only the physical health of these individuals but also their social and economic well-being. 

Back and neck pain can disrupt work, routine, and other daily activities you engage in. In fact, the condition is one of the leading causes of doctor’s visits and one of the most common reasons why people miss work.

While back and neck pain can make your life awfully difficult, the majority of cases are treatable without resorting to surgery or the continuous use of pain medication. 

There are steps you can take in order to handle the issues that may arise as a result of back and neck pain. These measures will not only help relieve the pain but also help you reduce the likelihood of recurrences of this condition.

In many instances, back and neck pain is caused by strains or other injuries to the muscles and ligaments surrounding the spinal column. 

These, in turn, may be caused by sports injuries or a sudden increase in physical activity to which you are not accustomed.

Injuries to feet, knees, and hips make for poor posture and often result in back pain.

Viral infections may also cause flu-like symptoms that are often accompanied by muscular pain affecting the neck and the back. The condition is known in medical circles as myalgia.

Another possible cause of your back and neck pain is the degenerative change that your spine undergoes as you age. A person’s spinal column is made up of individual bones (vertebrae) that are joined together by the intervertebral discs, joints, and ligaments. All these combined, form the strong but flexible structure of your spine.

As a person ages (middle age and beyond), back and neck pain occur as a result of the wear and tear of your intervertebral discs and other associated components of your spine. 

The number one cause of these degenerative changes is movement. Motion causes the neck (cervical) and the lower parts (lumbar) of the spine to gradually break down. Proper care, exercise, and diet could slow down this process.

Being biological structures, your ligaments and joints will try to heal and repair themselves but as a result, your spine could also become deformed with several bulging discs, buckling ligaments, and bone spurs. These changes could also affect the canals through which the nerves pass, pinching them, as a result, causing pain or numbness.

In the age of computers sitting at a desk crouched over a keyboard for hours is a major cause of back pain. I’m struggling with it right now. I have to tell myself to get up and walk around. Take a break and learn to type without looking at the keyboard.