Muscular low back pain- the less simple story

Quite often people will tell me that there low back pain “feels muscular” and therefore play it down as a mild temporary problem but this is often not the case when you look a little deeper.  The reasons pain can feel muscular tends to be down to 3 things: first the pain is not felt over the spine but to the side where muscles sit, second the pain feels like a previous injury in the leg that was diagnosed as muscular or third the muscles feel rigid to the touch.

If low back pain is felt in the muscles is it because of muscles?

The pain causing structures of the spine can cause pain all the way down to the toes.  It is quite rare for pain to be felt directly over where the problem is so pain being felt in the location of the spines muscles means very little.

Does pain feeling like a previous muscle injury mean the muscle is injured?

Because of the way pain is interpreted in the brain means the messages can get confused and feel very similar to a muscle strain even when the problem is actually a disc or joint problem.

“The muscles feel rigid around my spine. They must be ill, right?”

Muscle spasm makes them rigid, this can be what is known as primary muscle spasm, when the muscles spasm due to a problem with the muscle, this is quite rare.  Secondary muscle spasm is much more common where the muscle becomes rigid to protect another structure such as a disc or joint.  In this case unless the disc or joint is healed the spasm will persist.  This can be why a massage ‘cures’ low back pain but only for a day or two.

In short true muscle pain is rare in the back and if the pain is felt in the muscles the root cause of the problem is usually another structure that needs treated first.  This means booking an appointment with Pure Physio Albany would be a good here to do that click here.