Muscle pain occurs in any area of the body, including the waist. This situation appears and disappears continuously, triggering discomfort and interfering with activities. Find out more about the causes of low back muscle pain, symptoms, and prevention.
There are a number of factors that trigger low back muscle pain, such as wrong posture or muscle injury. What are the causes of low back muscle pain, symptoms, and treatment? Here’s more information.
Table of Contents
Causes of Back Muscle Pain
A common cause of low back muscle pain is muscle injury. This situation is triggered by continuous waist movements, such as playing golf. Low back muscle pain is also triggered by wrong posture and sitting position. In addition, there are a number of risk factors for low back muscle pain, namely:
- Obesity
- Rarely exercise.
- Age 30 and over.
- Pinched nerves.
- Spinal arthritis.
- Spinal stenosis.
- Spinal injury due to accident or impact.
- Spinal disorders, such as scoliosis.
- Spondylolisthesis.
Symptoms of Back Muscle Pain
Symptoms of low back muscle pain can vary, depending on the cause, namely:
- Pain spreads from the waist to the groin.
- Stiff or sore waist.
- Pain spreads from the waist to the legs.
- Pain worsens when bending, walking, or lifting objects beyond ability.
- Pain worsens when sitting for too long.
- Numb and weak limbs.
- Difficulty moving and standing straight.
Management of low back muscle pain
To relieve low back muscle pain due to tense muscles, self-care can be applied, namely:
1. Cold compress
Ice compress on the sore waist area to heal the swelling. However, you may need to wrap the ice in a cloth or ice pack to avoid irritating your skin. Apply cold compresses for 2-3 days for optimal results.
2. Warm compresses
If it’s been 3 days, you should warm compresses for 30 minutes in the painful waist area. This method is useful for reducing inflammation, improving blood flow, and flexing muscles.
3. Activities as usual
Although rest is necessary to cure backache, however, excessive rest weakens the muscles. Therefore, it is recommended that you do physical activity and exercise, such as yoga, stretching, or walking. Avoid strenuous activity because it will make the pain worse.
If the methods above don’t work to cure low back muscle pain, you should see a doctor. The doctor will prescribe medicines according to the cause of low back muscle pain, namely:
- muscle relaxants, eg eperisone.
- pain reliever.
- Antibiotics, if caused by a kidney infection.
- Antidepressants, eg SNRIs or tricyclics.
- Botox injections to hold the nerves.
Prevention of Back Muscle Pain
In addition to independent treatment and medication, efforts to prevent low back muscle pain are important. Here are various ways:
- Not lifting heavy weights.
- Exercise regularly to strengthen your waist muscles, for example yoga or swimming.
- Sit in an upright position and don’t stand too long.
- Adequate needs of vitamin D and calcium to prevent the risk of osteoporosis.
- Do not smoke, because it is not good for bone health and inhibits blood supply to the waist.
- Maintaining ideal body weight to avoid excessive pressure on the spine.
- Wear comfortable footwear and don’t wear high heels.
- Sleep on your side and your knees tucked up to prevent excessive pressure.
