The development of back pain

Many people have a fire alarm mentality when it comes to their health - an alarm goes off and something is wrong. The real truth is that health issues are rarely that sudden and in most cases, the path from problem to actual pain is a progressive process that happens over time. There is no surprise then, that the same applies to back pain.

Here are the 4 stages of development when it comes to back pain.

1. Muscle imbalances

They can be the result of over use, i.e primarily using the right side of the body in sports or other activities, the type of exercise you do, the way you stand, walk and sit, and the type of work you engage in. To illustrate, think about what happens when the steering on your car is out of alignment or the tires are unbalanced. They wear down unevenly, not to mention a lot quicker than normal and are susceptible to blow outs. This what happens then after lifting a weight incorrectly and your back gives out - the tire has blown after all that uneven wear - the body and spine are out of alignment.

2. Dysfunction

Once the muscles become imbalanced and the body and spine shift, a dysfunction has occurred. At this early stage, a person can be unaware they have a problem at all as the dysfunction works away in the background for years and years until one day - bang.

3. Conditions

We know that muscle imbalances lead to dysfunction, which leads to conditions. It's very important to understand that whatever condition presents didn't just appear out of nowhere - it was created over a long period of time. After years of having to deal with dysfunction, a condition such as a herniated disc is created.

4. Pain

The final stage is the pain itself - as a direct result of the condition. We know that like the oil light on the dash board, pain is the bodies way of letting you know there is a problem. By this stage though, the condition has come about after years of dysfunction caused by muscle imbalances. For this reason, once you are at the final stage of pain, doctors, drugs and surgery are of no use.

As you've seen, the path to back pain is a gradual progression from muscle imbalance to dysfunction to condition and finally to pain. The only way to effectively prevent back pain then, is to rectify the muscle imbalances before they have a chance to develop into dysfunction and this requires a mindset of care and maintenance.

Derek Semp is the author of the recently released ebook, "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Back Pain And Physical Therapy But Never Dared To Ask." He runs http://backpainz.com