Diary 199: Back Pain

Back pain is often associated with the elders.

It is often considered the hall-mark of old age.

The most common cause of back pain is muscle strain.

Other causes are problems due to the wear-and-tear of the cushions (discs) in between bones of the spine.

Disc problems in the spine include degenerated disc, bulging disc, herniated disc, thinning disc and disc degenerated with osteophyte formation.

Kindly take note that back pain is not confined to the elders.

According to Dr Stefan Hellinger, a German orthopaedic spine surgeon, the ageing of the spine starts very early, as early as 18 years old.

Problems such as degenerated and herniated (or slipped) discs often occur when one has passed 30 to 40 years of age. This is when the discs – once soft and spongy – become harder.

This is also when people slowly start to fee the pain as the discs that are out of place press on the surrounding nerve, and pieces of the nerves that break away might irritate the other nerves around them.

(Lim Wey Wen, “Spine snips”, SF10, Fit4Life, Sunday Star, 10 October 2010).