My Back Pain Needs A Better Dialog
Pain is the body talking to the brain, and the most pain receptors live in and around the lumbar spine. Which might explain why, as you age, you seem to have more low back pain.
It isn’t because you are aging; it’s because you are not moving.
Years of sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise, and poor posture take their toll. The spine compresses, bad habits form from disuse or accumulative injury, and low grade back pain becomes a persistent reality. It isn’t there all the time, but it appears when we’re stressed: we don’t get enough sleep, work is driving our lives, food choices are less than stellar, and Aunt Ethel comes to visit. All that stress goes somewhere. It goes to where there are an excess of nociceptors: pain receptors. It shoots to the low back. Oweeeeee!
Why there?
The spinal cord is protected in a sheath by the spinal column. Around the lumbar spine (low back), the spinal cord exits that protective sheath. The nerves travel through the hips and down the legs. By walking, we stimulate the nerves that run through our legs back into our hips and spine. We provide our own protection for our nervous system. Nerves that can move are happy nerves. Happy nerves allow the body to move with ease.
The next time you encounter low back pain, do not sit down and be still, hoping the pain will go away. It probably will not.
Go for a walk instead, even if it’s only around your work space or house. Move your entire spine gently. Bend forward and sideward, as long as it doesn’t hurt. If it does, slow down, make the motions smaller, or stop. Rotate your head from side to side, and ear to shoulder. Open and close your mouth as wide as you can, to move your jaw. Move it sideways as well.
The top of your spine talks to the bottom of your spine, which is where that low back pain lives. By having a kinder, gentler approach to moving pain free, you help yourself overall, and maybe that pain gets less or goes away. It’s you being responsible for you. Long healthy life is not a gift; you have to work for it.
That’s Aging Intelligently