Guest columnist Arty Clark of Be Restored Massage Therapy and Bodywork

Do you suffer from low back pain? If you do, you are one of the growing numbers of adults in the U.S. who suffers from this sometimes debilitating condition. A recent statistic stated that 8 out of 10 Americans will experience back pain. Those who experience back pain miss an average of 3.98 days of work and require 4.68 treatments, but only 61.15% see improvement.

Today I would like to share one new idea that will help you think of your back pain in a different way. The problem is NOT your back!! (Unless you have had a traumatic injury) Your pain is coming from tension caused by a different part of the body. I am going to discuss one type of back pain that is felt across the low back, along the belt line of your pants. This pain is typical of those of you who sit at a desk at work or sleep on your side with your legs curled up.

Figure 1 shows what ideal posture looks like.

Figure 2 shows adaptively shortened stomach and hip flexor muscles while sitting. Now we can start to see where the tension is coming from. When we sit the stomach muscles are shortened. If the stomach muscles shorten the opposite action must take place on the back muscles. The back muscles are lengthened and still responsible to stabilize the spine. This creates the sensation of weakness in the back.

In this scenario the pain itself is coming from referred pain from a trigger point in the stomach.(figure 4) A trigger point is created by muscles that are too short and tight.

These tight muscles restrict blood flow, creating a trigger point. (figure 3)

In my 12 year career as a Neuromuscular Therapist, I believe that the reason for this alarming number of back pain complaints coupled with low recovery rates is due to misinformation given to the client. We should stretch our short tight muscles instead of where you feel pain. We should be stretching and treating the stomach muscles rather than the back. You don't want to bring your knees to your chest as this shortens your abdominal muscles even more and stretches your back even further. When the stomach is restored to its ideal length the tension is eliminated from the back.

To recap the new and different way to avoid back pain or to recover more quickly and completely is by not thinking of your back as the problem. We all must find where the restrictions are in our bodies that are creating the tension you feel as back pain. A skilled therapist can help determine where your restrictions lie. If you have back pain that is felt across the belt line of your pant the most likely restriction is in your abdominal muscles. These trigger points refer pain to your lower back. You can start your recovery by stretching over an exercise ball.