Understanding Your Aging Spine

Your spine, like your face, gets old. Said in another way, you get back pain as a result of natural aging process and it is no different from getting wrinkle next to your eye and expression crease on your forehead. Back pains don’t often result from lifting or pushing heavy objects, like refrigerator or air conditioning unit; pain can come after a simple task, like reaching for a pencil or brushing your teeth in front of the sink. Why is this so? The simple explanation is a cliché – you’re just getting old.

Knowing back pain

Research has yet to present proof that “being super or extra careful” and “going slow” will guarantee you to a back-pain-free life. Although techniques on lifting and pushing objects may somehow prevent, if not mitigate, back injury, they are not 100% assurances that you will not get pain on your back throughout your lifetime. Back pain may result from inevitable age-related tissue failure. Be positive: After all, not being active, and being extra careful, won’t stop you from getting wrinkles and gray hair.

The mystery and oddities in back pain

It is one of the most common medical complaints of patients in the doctor’s office.

It is not always related to injury. Unlike a sprained ankle wherein healing comes after recovery from injury; age-related back pain does not heal because there is no injury.

Back pain is not always common among the aged. Some people suffer from pains on their back in their 40s and less in their 50s. If it is a degenerative process, then why do some people have less and less pain while they advance in age?

What is odd about back pain is that while the spine ages, the pain is triggered by the neurological system – the brain and nerve tissues inside the spine; but not the bone or the spine itself. Thus, the pain goes away when the triggering point or factor is controlled --- the nerves.

Strategies to help your back

1. Don’t baby your back pain. Babying your back pain by staying in bed will not help. Your condition might get worse overtime. Without activity, the flexibility and strength of muscles are affected. You also increase the possibility of depression.

2. Treat the pain. Over-the-counter medicines won’t cure the problem. They just make you dependent on them. Hot or cold pack can make the pain more tolerable. Talk to your doctor to know which medicine is best for you.

3. Hit the gym and engage in an exercise program. Make your body strong.

4. Talk to a physical therapist or a doctor with specialty in rehabilitation medicine. These professionals will help you safely go past pain.