Lifting strains

Lifting heavy or awkward weights including babies, children and shopping, can cause back strain, especially if not done correctly. If the spine is already under stress from another cause, it may only take lifting a small weight to cause strain, usually at the weakest point in the spine.

Falls

The spine is often jerked or twisted during falls, and parts can become quite impacted or compressed. Sit-down falls such as falling on ice or a slippery surface are particularly damaging because in addition to the direct impact on the base of the spine, the impact of the head onto the top of the spine causes strain at the top of the neck. Headaches and neck problems are very common after this type of injury.

Direct injury

Any direct injury, for example kicks or blows to the spine can create a local area of disruption of normal spinal mechanics. Problems may gradually develop over a period of time, even if the back seemed uninjured at the time.

Car accidents, Whiplash

In any car accident, even at relatively low speed, the body is subjected to sudden deceleration forces, and can be thrown around violently in many different directions. Osteopaths are often able to feel the effects of these stresses locked into the body tissues as tensions, after a whiplash accident. The whole body is affected, not just the neck, and unless these strains are treated, they can be present for life.

Accumulation of stresses in the body

Back pain does not always arise immediately after an injury because the body is very good at adapting to injuries and accommodating strains and stresses. However, the disruption to spinal mechanics brought about by injury can cause strain to build up over a period of time and symptoms begin, often insidiously.

Episodes of pain may be triggered by events such as physical exertion, emotional stress or illness. Sometimes a minor strain may give more pain and take longer to heal than expected. This may be because the body has reached the limits of its ability to cope with the combined effects of past injuries, and any new demand is ‘the final straw’.