SALT LAKE CITY — Lower back pain affects 80% of Americans at some point in their lives, but there are steps you can take to prevent it — and warning signs that mean it's time to see a doctor.
The spine is a complex system made up of 26 bones, 23 cushioning disks, and more than 100 attached muscles. Keeping that system healthy contributes to overall wellness throughout the body.
Dr. Michael Woodruff with Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield explained what can go wrong with the back and what people can do to keep it pain-free.
"With such a complex system, it's no surprise that things go wrong with it," he said. "The most common would be muscle strain, and that's often caused by lifting a heavy object or sudden awkward movement. You can have structural problems like arthritis or narrowing of the spinal canal that we call spinal stenosis. You can have acute injuries like falls, skiing accidents, car accidents, sports injuries, and occasionally, it can be something really serious, like an infection or a fracture," Woodruff said.
Woodruff said the most common back pain presents as a dull ache, stiffness, or muscle spasm. But he said some symptoms should prompt a visit to the doctor.
"When you start getting into tingling, numbness, and then especially weakness in the muscles of the legs, that's a big red flag. The other red flags that we talk about are fevers accompanying your back pain or unintended weight loss, loss of control of your bowel or bladder function, those are the times you really got to get in quickly to see your doctor," Woodruff said.
When it comes to treatment, Woodruff said opioid pain medications should be avoided. "We've seen over the last decade, just all the problems that [opioid use] causes. The risk of dependency is super high and over time, especially long-term use of opioid pain medications changes your body, changes your body's pain receptors in a way that makes medication less effective and then makes you feel even more pain when you take away the medicine," Woodruff said.
He said better alternatives include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen or naproxen, as well as Tylenol, combined with heat, massage, rest, and stretching.
Woodruff said the best approach is prevention. "The biggest things are staying really active, staying flexible, maintaining a strong core, and then keeping your weight really healthy. There are other specific things, like avoiding doing a heavy lift and a twist at the same time. And then when you do lift something heavy, make sure you lift with your leg muscles more than bending your back," Woodruff said.
Maintaining a healthy weight also contributes to better back health.
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