The other day I received a question about a catch in the back. Turns out this lady was just washing some dishes, then turned around and slightly bent over to put something away and then it happened: a sudden sharp pain in the mid back on the right side.
She also already suffered from lower back pain for more than 10 years, in connection with a bulging disc and degerative disc disease. She had always been told that it is just a catch in your back when you hurt your back just from turning and/or bending the wrong way.
I am sure many recognize the problem of doing something simple and then – out of the blue? – your back pops out, the dreaded catch in your back, and you are floored and grounded. But how can it be that a simple move that our backs and bodies are supposed to be able to do all day, all of a sudden cause so much misery?
Catch In Back – Cause And Solution
Now let me look at what happened here and what might be the trouble, but ofcourse the most important thing is to look at how to get rid of the pains and see to it that regular turning and bending can be done without causing a catch in the back.
Catch In Back The Cause Took Probably Years To Develop…
Even though your back pops out just like that, the underlying problem has probably been with you for years already.
Look at what the lady told me in the above:
– lower back pain for 10 years already
– degenerative disc disease
– bulging disc
And then the lady says she was told that a catch in the back is the result of plain turning or bending the wrong way! Nothing could be further from the truth.
The underlying cause of a catch in the back is the gradual decline in health of the back as a whole. Australian research by a group of physiotherapists that I write about in my article Secrets To A Healthy Spine clearly shows the progression in back troubles over time:
your back pops out the first time and immediately your multifides muscles are damaged, resulting in loss of strength and function over time of the affected multifides muscles;
as a result your back becomes slightly instable at the location where your back popped out – this because these multifides muscles are responsible for core stability of your spine;
with decreased action of multifides muscles, other – often larger – muscles take over, but they are not made to do this and therefore often pull too hard, causing tension, cramps and tightness in your back;
this tightness and stiffness of your back limits free movement of you and your back, which causes less fluids going in and out of your discs, causing them to dry out more easily, also the tight muscles prevent your back from properly elongating overnight, adding to the lack of needed hydration of your intervertebral discs;
once your discs are too dry, they crack and bulge more easily, causing more trouble still…
So now let’s look back again at the story of our lady whose back popped out – causing the catch in her back.
She mentioned 10 years of lower back pain (if your back pops out once, this often leads to pain in your lower back, tight cramped muscles that find it hard to relax, and in fact can not relax, simply because the larger muscles are now seeking to provide core stability while they are not made for doing that.
The lady also mentioned degenerative disc disease, in the light of the above I would rather call it progressive neglect of disc healtht!…
And then the bulging disc ofcourse is an accident just waiting to happen, same goes for her back popping out again, she can just wait for that.
But ofcourse she could also do something about it.
And if you want to know what to do so YOUR back will not get a catch again, or will no longer pop out so easily. Just follow this next link: Back Exercises To Prevent Back From Popping Out!
