By Ian Chow, Certified Massage Therapist / Infant Massage Instructor / Oncology Massage Trainer
Length: 1.5 mins read (389 words)
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With our modern lifestyle and work, it is almost impossible to avoid having lower back issues especially for middle age professionals who may need to be seated on the office chair for long hours or those who are in the line of work where they have to stand for prolong hours. One of the most common problem is muscle strain and this could arise from the erector spinae group of muscles, our three gluteal muscles or even the ligaments e.g. sacroiliac ligament and iliolumbar ligament.
As written in previous article Vocalist x Massage, this is how our muscle fibers pull in maintaining a good posture. The collapse or dysfunction in of any of these muscle may potentially create lower back pain (or other issues depending on which muscle that has to compensate in the movement due to the dysfunction).
Excessive coughing could also be another factor that could create lower back pain. For this, the quadratus lumborum muscle which is a deeper back muscle (originate from iliac crest and inserted to the transverse processes of the lumbar and 12th rib) would have been strained. Other causes that contribute include bad posture especially slouching, heavy workout or sports that may overextend your back muscle and the way you carry your backpack (or its weight).
One natural remedy in preventing lower back pain that arises from our work is of course standing up from your office chair to do some stretching or just walk around the office or be seated to rest for a while (for those who need to stand for long hours) before continuing your work. You could also strengthen your back with a very simple routine by doing the bridge pose (diagramme as below) on every morning for about 10 to 30 seconds before you get up from the bed. Plus, don’t forget to strengthen our core muscles (the 4 abdominis muscles) too with planking.
For those whose work does require a lot of heavy lifting, just be mindful of your posture in how your carry out your duty. Consider some back support straps and chairs. Last but not least, if your lower back pain is accompanied by numbness or tingling sensation, the surrounding nerve may have been affected. Bulging (herniated disc) in the lumbar region could be one of the culprit where the disc is pressing on the nerve. You may experience shooting pain too in this instance.
My advise is, if you are not feeling better after 72 hours, you may want to seek help from a qualified treatment massage therapist or medical professional to identify the cause and further iron out the issue.
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