What Are The Most Common Back Injuries?
Back Muscle Strains
Back muscle injuries are the most common form of back injury. Muscle fatigue, excessive loads or poor lifting postures are the most common problems. Inefficient back muscles can lead to poor joint stabilisation and subsequent injury.
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Ligament Sprains
Ligaments are the strong fibrous bands that limit the amount of movement available at each spinal level. Stretching ligaments too far or too quickly will tear them with subsequent bleeding into the surrounding tissues, causing swelling and pain. Awkward lifting, sports injuries, and motor vehicle accidents are prevalent causes. Just as in other regions of the body, physiotherapy hastens ligament healing and relieves pain so that you can enjoy life again as soon as possible.
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Bulging Discs
A bulging disc injury is a common spine injury sustained to your spine’s intervertebral disc. Spinal discs are the shock-absorbing rings of fibrocartilage and glycoprotein that separate your bony vertebral bodies while allowing movement at each spinal level and enough room for the major spinal nerves to exit from the spinal canal and travel to your limbs.
Your spinal disc is a glycoprotein-filled jelly-like disc nucleus surrounded by a fibrocartilaginous wall, known as an annulus. Your annulus design contains the nucleus, allowing movement between the vertebrae. The annulus consists of several layers of multi-directional fibrocartilaginous fibres. The fibres are all densely packed, forming the outer section of the spinal disc.
A disc bulge (slipped disc) occurs when the annulus weakens and subsequently bulges to press against or irritate the nerve where it exits from the spine. This nerve pinch can cause back pain, spasms, cramping, numbness, pins and needles, or pain in your legs.
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Bone Injuries
You can also fracture your spine if the force involved is highly traumatic or you have a low bone density (e.g. osteoporosis).
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Poor Posture
Poor posture when sitting, standing or lifting at work can place unnecessary stress on your spine. Muscles fatigue, ligaments overstretch, discs stretch, and spinal joints and nerves under pain-causing pressure.
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