What causes back pain?

If you always feel pain in the tendons on your back, it may be related to muscle injury, but the specific cause of the disease can only be known after a detailed examination. Generally speaking, it is related to muscle and bone problems. At this time, you need to stay in bed more to improve your back pain. If the pain is really unbearable, you can take some painkillers appropriately.

The soft tissue nucleus pulposus is located in the center of the intervertebral disc and is surrounded by annular cartilage fibrous rings. The anterior longitudinal ligament is located in the front of the outer side of the annulus fibrosus, and the posterior longitudinal ligament is located in the back, which plays an auxiliary role.

The annulus fibrosus contains strong collagen fibers and is a very elastic tissue. The nucleus pulposus located in the center is in a gelatin state and contains a lot of water. Therefore, the intervertebral disc is elastic and can absorb and cushion the impact on the spine.

The tires of a car can support the operation of an extremely heavy car body, and at the same time they also act as a cushion to prevent the impact caused by the rugged road from being directly transmitted to the car body. This is because tires are made of elastic rubber and are filled with air. The same is true for the intervertebral disc, where the elastic annulus fibrosus tissue and the moisture in the nucleus pulposus act as a cushion.

However, the water content of the nucleus pulposus begins to gradually decrease from around the age of 20. After the age of 30, the water content of the annulus fibrosus also gradually decreases. The intervertebral disc begins to age first and gradually loses its elasticity. As a result, the cushion function is weakened, and it cannot alleviate the impact on the lumbar spine, which is prone to cause pain.

The movement of the upper body is of course not only supported by the vertebrae and intervertebral discs, but the ligaments and muscles connecting the bones also play a big role. Among them, muscle stretching or contraction, in addition to being related to joint flexion and extension, also plays an important role in fixing the spine. The spine, which is composed of many bones connected to each other, can stand straight because of the tension of the muscles around it.

For example, the psoas major muscles on both sides of the spine, the quadriceps lumbar muscles on the inner side of the waist, the rectus abdominis muscles on the ventral side, the external oblique abdominal muscles, and the internal oblique abdominal muscles are all related to the stability and mobility of the spine.

However, as muscles age, their strength will weaken. Lack of exercise can also lead to decreased muscle strength. The degeneration of the muscles supporting the spine naturally becomes the cause of low back pain.

In order to stabilize the spine, the strength of the back muscles and abdominal muscles must be well balanced. However, due to the deterioration of abdominal muscle strength, this balance is destroyed, resulting in low back pain. This situation is very common.

However, although they are all called vertebrae, not all parts are the same size. The cervical vertebrae only need to support the weight of the head, so the vertebrae are thinner, while the lumbar vertebrae that bear the entire weight of the upper body are large and strong, and can fully bear the weight of the upper body. On the other hand, the fact that the lumbar spine has to bear heavy pressure also means that this part is prone to injury.

In fact, the areas most prone to low back pain are the 5th lumbar vertebra and sacrum at the bottom of the lumbar spine.