Ace Your Aches: Back Pain

Lower-back injury keeping you from achieving your best? Here’s how to get healthy and stay that way.

- Kristin Mahoney

Your relationship with your back can be a complicated one. Sometimes it does exactly what you want, whether that’s supporting you through a heavy lift or helping you carry groceries in from the car. Then again, your back can be a royal pain, acting up just when you need it most. Unfortunately, most of us have experienced some form of back pain, whether it’s a passing ache or a long-term problem. We’ll help you conquer chronic back pain so you and your back can be happy together at last.

WHAT’S THE TROUBLE?

Your back is separated into three sections: the cervical spine (neck), the thoracic spine (upper back), and the lumbar spine (lower back). The spine is an intricate structure, made up of a variety of joints, ligaments, and nerves, all of which work together to support, strengthen, and move the rest of your body. Because there are so many moving parts, the lower back has a high risk of injury. More than 31 million Americans experience lower-back pain at any given time, according to the American Chiropractic Association.

And while working out keeps you healthy in general, it can put your back at risk for injury if you’re not careful. Failing to warm up properly, subjecting your spine to repetitive high impact activities, or simply using poor form can all  lead to back trouble. “Muscles can’t function at their fullest capacity if they’re not stretched or warmed up. And impact activities like running put force on the spine and joints,” explains Jeffrey A. Goldstein, M.D., an orthopedic spine surgeon at NYU Langone Health in New York.