What Causes Lower Back Pain in Women?

Lower Back Pain in Women

No one can disagree from the fact that women are more likely to experience lower back pain than men. The back aches sometimes become so severe that even the entire body starts responding to the pain in the form of chills, fevers, and night sweats. It is also true that women ignore back pain much more than men do. Women generally put their health needs and medical requirements at the end of their to-do-list and end up with extreme lower back pain symptoms.

When it comes to back pain sitting quiet with your fingers crossed isn’t going to help you in any way because not doing anything about your back pain might cause permanent damage to the ligaments, muscles, as well as your back bones that can cause the pain to become even worse. Lower back pain in women should be treated at the initial stage, and if you have been experiencing pain for more than six weeks, it’s better to consult a doctor and get your back checked as soon as possible.

Possible Causes of Lower Back Pain in Women

Muscle or ligament strains:

This is one of the most common reasons for lower back pain in women that occurs on a periodical basis. The muscles or ligaments in the back are subjected to excessive strain, they can tear or stretch causing chronic pain. The symptoms for this disorder include muscle spasms and stiffness in the lower back. The remedies include physiotherapy, application of ice or heat ,and rest.

Disc injury:

Mostly older women are more prone to disc injuries as the outside of their disc can easily tear causing lower back muscle pain and can result in the compression of the nerve root as it exits through the vertebral bones of the spinal cord. A disc injury usually happens after twisting the back or lifting some heavy object and usually lasts for more than 72 hours.

Arthritis:

This is one of the other older age problems that most women experience. Arthritis generally affects the joints in the spine, and the symptoms include fatigue, fever, swelling, pain, joint stiffness, morning stiffness, numbness, and tingling. The possible treatment methods include aqua therapy, physical therapy, and medication. Keeping a healthy diet is also crucial if you want to prevent arthritis.

Osteoporosis:

This is one of the most common age-related disorders that is caused due to the reduction in mineral bone density when thinning of the bones affects the vertebrae for the women of age group 60 and up. The treatment of osteoporosis includes physical therapy and application of back brace. For more severe cases surgery is suggested.

Sciatica:

The name for this disorder is derived from the name of the Sciatic nerve that connects the spine to legs, and as a result, the inflammation of this nerve can cause unbearable pain in legs and feet and feels like someone is pinning needles in the leg or the legs are burning. Sciatica occurs when a herniated disc presses on the sciatic nerve and can last for more than 72 hours.

Spinal Stenosis:

This happens when pressure is applied to the spinal cord and spinal nerves due to degeneration of discs between the vertebrae. The result is that the bony spurs or soft tissues such as discs compress the nerve root or the spinal cord and shows symptoms like numbness, cramping and weakness while you are standing or walking. The possible treatment methods include physical therapy, medications, injections and ultimately surgery.[1]

There are also several other conditions like abnormal spine curvatures, fibromyalgia, spondylitis, and spndolysis that can cause and most of the causes are due to aging. Kidney and bladder problems, endometriosis, ovarian cysts, pregnancy, uterine fibroids and cancer are also some of the causes of back pain, so it’s essential that you get diagnosed by a skilled doctor for lower back pain if the pain lasts for more than two weeks.

What Could be the Possible Red Flags?

The possible reasons for lower back pain in women differ according to their respective age groups. Younger women frequently experience back pain from physical strains or with premenstrual syndromes like menstrual cramping and aches. Middle-aged and older women often tend to experience back pain due to degenerative diseases like arthritis or osteoporosis or from injuries or disc diseases. Some specific flagged signs for getting a back checkup as so as possible are listed below:

Your back pain is paired with leg pain:

If your extreme lower back pain that is radiating from the buttocks area or simply the back is going all the way down your leg, knees and into the foot, then there’s a sign of some nerve root irritation which may further lead to muscle weakness, tingling, numbness, and persistent pain.. Though all of these sorts of pains don’t need to be serious and the symptoms can be decreased easily with the help of massage and physical therapy, but some of them need to be looked over with proper attention because they may be the reason of some serious problem like Sciatica. So consult a doctor if you feel this kind of pains in your lower back for more than six weeks. You can even try lower back support braces that provide comfort  treatment, and preventative maintenance for lower back pain.

Your back pain is paired with Limping:

If you experience limping or leg weakness on either side of your body, then that may be the first and foremost symbol of nerve damage. If you keep ignoring the limping that came in hand in hand with the back pain, then that might cause permanent muscle weakness. You should immediately rush to seek professional medical help if you don’t want the permanent nerve damage to ruin your muscle and cause chronic pain.[2]

Your back pain is paired with balance issues:

This may be the elementary sign of low bone mineral density that most of the women are liable to face as they get older. Due to Osteoporosis, they develop a higher risk of sustaining fractures. So if you have a mild or a chronic back pain and you are walking unbalanced, then that’s something that should be investigated well by your doctor. To prevent this start taking more and more calcium in your diet and start working with therapists who not only offer gait training but also teach certain techniques to prevent falls which will serve as a kind of preventive measures for fractures.

Back pain is paired with bowel or bladder issues:

This is another constellation of symptoms that shouldn’t be neglected. If you are experiencing anything like groin numbness or bowel/bladder incontinence from more than a day or two, then make sure you consult a doctor as soon as possible. This is because the acute onset of these set of symptoms could be a sign of cauda equina syndrome. This is particularly a rare condition that puts a lot of pressure over the nerves that are located at the bottom of the spinal cord and are responsible for connection to your pelvic organs.

Your back pain is paired with total body reactions:

If your entire body starts responding to the back pains with fevers, chills, profuse sweating and dizziness ten, these are the signs that your body is reacting to something else. This may sound quite astounding, but these signs can even be the earliest sign of bone marrow cancer or a deadly infection that can even cost you your life.

Though all back pain is not serious and the symptoms may go on their own over time, but in case of women you should go and see a doctor if your back pain lasts longer than 72 hours as the symptoms may b a sign of a more serious problem leading to spine problems and a lot more. Better be safe than sorry. Therefore taking preventive measures is ultimately the best option for you if you have waited long enough for the back pain to get worse!

Back pain is incredibly common, but you have to discover your back pain causes to recover from it. The common causes of back pain include overexertion, sudden movements, heavy or improper lifting or falling. To prevent lower back pain and injuries you can use your core muscles while lifting any heavy objects and it’s always better to do things in increment instead of all at once. Lift that amount of load that you can sustain and spare your back muscles.

A good posture is also necessary to prevent the effects of back pain. Certain workouts are highly recommended like squats, crunches or planks that reduce the body fat along with retaining the correct posture for you. But don’t work out hard that you tear out the ligaments of your back as well as the leg. There are also specific back pain exercises that work mildly on your postures.

Also, maintain a healthy lifestyle and refrain yourself from junk food as well as the cheesy and oily edibles. Well balanced, low sodium, low cholesterol diet is suggested for women who want to overcome the ills of back pain or want to prevent back pain in their later years. Practice Yoga and exercise and indulge yourself in active sports like running, walking and biking that are all back friendly activities.

References:

1..https://www.sharecare.com/health/back-pain/women-back-neck-pain

2..https://www.floridahospital.com/blog/back-pain-women-common-causes