It's Friday afternoon.
You are in the office and it's time to go home.
As you walk along the corridor, you see a box.
You bend forward from your hips in order to pick it up and see what's inside and...
ouch! You feel the excruciating pain on your back.
It's unimaginable.
You just experienced back pain.
Why? How do you avoid it or get rid of it? Back pain occurs when your back muscles lack the strength to support or lift the load that your upper body is carrying.
Long hours of sitting, poor posture, improper bending, and untrained back muscles can cause back pain.
Medical conditions such as lumbar spinal stenosis and spinal disc herniation ("slipped disc") are also known causes of back pain.
Everyone, even athletes, can suffer from back pain.
If left untreated, back pain can restrict your movement.
It can make you feel older than you really are.
You will cringe and suffer excruciating pain.
That doesn't sound nice, does it? However, there are several things that you can try to strengthen your back and avoid back pains.
The first way is to strengthen your back muscles through exercises that target your back muscles.
If you have access to gym equipment, you can perform dead lifts (for muscles in your lower back) and bent-over rows (for muscles in your middle back) using a barbell or dumbbells.
Brisk walking, moderate jogging, or swimming can also strengthen the muscles on your back, buttocks, and legs.
Just make sure that you perform these aerobic exercises at least 30 minutes daily and five times weekly.
Workout routines and aerobic exercises not only build strong muscles but also stimulate the production of endorphins, also known as the body's natural painkillers.
The second way is to maintain proper posture all the time.
Here's a quick way to check whether you have proper posture.
Stand straight with your back against the wall.
Make sure that your shoulders and buttocks are touching the wall.
Notice that the back side of your shoulders and your buttocks are vertically aligned and that there's a natural curve near the base of your spine.
Try walking away from the wall and look at your posture from a mirror.
That is the right posture.
Maintain that posture until you get used to it.
Keeping proper posture can help prevent back pain.
The third way is to bend and lift heavy objects properly.
Never lift a heavy object by bending only from your waist.
Rather than putting all the pressure on your back muscles when picking up a heavy object, try to leverage a more powerful muscle group--your leg muscles.
How is it done? Keeping your back straight, bend your knees as your hands grasp the object.
Make sure your feet are a shoulder width apart so that you won't be thrown off-balance.
Use your legs to push yourself upwards.
This way, your leg muscles perform most of the heavy work.
If the object is too heavy for you to lift all by yourself, ask for help.
The fourth way is to avoid unhealthy habits that weaken the discs on your spine.
One common unhealthy habit that weakens these discs is cigarette smoking, which causes poor blood circulation in your back area and consequently causes the discs to weaken.
Your spine is not made up of a single bone.
Instead, it is made up of smaller bones called the vertebrae held together by discs made up of cartilage.
When you perform movements such as walking or jumping, these discs serve as cushions and shock absorbers between vertebrae.
You can protect these back cushions by avoiding cigarette smoking.
Back pain is natural.
As the body's natural response to strenuous exertion of the back muscles, it sometimes happens even to healthy and physically fit people.
However, back pain doesn't normally occur in healthy people intensely or frequently.
If it does, the pain is most likely a sign of an underlying condition that will need medical attention.