3 Reasons Why We Are Experiencing Lower Back Pain

Lower back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide.  80% of U.S. population will experience lower back pain some where in their life time.  It is also estimated that Americans spend at least $215 billion per year for treatment.

Experts also agree that majority of back pains are mechanical or non-organic meaning not fracture, cancer or infection.

Here are 3 major cause of lower back pain.

1. Sitting vs Standing

When you compare load on your lower back during sitting and standing, 150 lb male would be putting 102-150 lb on his spine while standing still.  When walking same person would put 68 lb and when sit down the pressure goes up to 184 lb, provided that he is sitting straight.  When he slouch like so many people are doing in front of TV and computer, the pressure goes up to 349 lb!  If you are sitting in the car, stuck in a traffic you have vibration from the engine to increase more pressure.

Some Japanese news article was commenting about some British researchers stated that sitting is not life threatening. They better think again.

2. Obesity and Physical Inactivity

Obesity is another thing that causes more stress to your spine.  I've used the example of 150 lb male earlier but imagine what happens when the same person weigh 180 lb. When he is slouching in front of computer or TV, the load will be over 400 lb!

Inactivity is playing significant role in obesity in adults and now rapidly increasing in teenagers.  According to Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found that Americans walk little over 5,000 steps per day where suggested daily steps are 10,000 for good health.

3. Packaged food leading to more pain

On top of inactivity, people are looking for fast and convenient food for their meals so they can sit, eat and do more work. Packaged food contain no nutritional value and packed with high sugar, sodium, and other chemical that would put stress to the stomach.  

With inactivity and poor nutritional choices, it is not a surprise that 70% of U.S. population are overweight and by 2030 all 50 states will have obesity rate of 50%.

This is not a surprise that so many people are suffering from lower back pain.

So what can you do?

Plan your day and pack yourself a lunch to avoid eating packaged food or eating out. If you don't have time in the morning, spend about 1~2 hrs on weekend to get those food ready.

Get moving. 10,000 steps/day is minimum.

Arrange your workstation or occasional get up and move around. Sustaining over 300 lb load for more than 2 hrs is insane.

Lets make some changes

Kota Shimada

ACA - The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) - Representing doctors of chiropractic (chiropractors)-. (n.d.). Retrieved October 23, 2015. Sitting too long and poor posture can create painful back problems. (n.d.). Retrieved October 23, 2015.