Nearly every patient who has come to see me has had an acute flare of low back pain at some point in their lives. Many of them often wonder what triggered it, so that they can avoid it in the future.
Well, a study on that exact question was published back in 2015.
This study involved gathering data from 999 participants who had a new episode of low back pain. The subjects were questioned about their exposure to 12 different common back pain triggers in the four days leading up to the onset of their pain. This is what they found:
- Lifitng with awkward posture increased risk of back pain 8 times.
- Lifting an animal/person and not keeping lifted objects close to the body both increased risk of back pain around 6 times.
- Being distracted while performing an activity or task increased risk of back pain 25 times.
- Being fatigued or tired increased risk of back pain nearly 4 times.
- The most frequent time of day for back pain onset was between 7:00 AM to 12:00 PM
There were some other things that were more losely associated with a flare up of low back pain, but these were the highlights. I would suggest reading the article if you are more curious about their findings.
One odd aside that I found interesting was that all of these risks diminished with the subjects age. Why that was is up for debate. Maybe old people know how to lift things better, or are just more careful about how they do it. Who knows?
If you happen to be suffering from low back pain and need care, be sure to schedule an appointment with us today!