Low back pain is one of those health problems that just doesn’t want to go away. No matter what you seem to do, the pain persists. In recent health news, researchers think they may have tracked down exactly what might be happening inside the body when low back pain sticks around. It all has to do with connective tissue.
A research team from the Universityof Vermont determined that the role played by connective tissues in chronic low back pain is not well understood. After conducting an ultrasound study, they found that people with chronic low back pain had something different from their no-back pain counterparts: altered connective tissue structure. This, they say, suggests the presence of inflammation and/or fibrosis in the low back pain subjects.Also Read ==> Pain Behind Knee – Causes and Natural Treatments
They took their study one step further. They wanted to better understand the mechanisms of lumbar connective tissue as well as the potential therapeutic effects of tissue stretching. The researchers induced inflammation in the low back of a rodent. Inflammation in the lumbar connective tissues resulted in altered gait, increased mechanical sensitivity of the tissues of the low back, and local macrophage (white blood cells involved in inflammation) infiltration.
The rodent was subjected to a mechanical stretch for 10 minutes twice a day for 12 days. The research team found that the stretching reversed the inflammation-induced changes, leading to restored stride length and step distance. The stretching also decreased sensitivity of the back and reduced macrophage expression in the connective tissues of the low back.
This study highlights the potential for something as simple as stretching to relieve chronic low back pain. If you don’t like stretching as a specific activity, consider trying yoga or tai chi. Both will gently stretch muscles, helping your connective tissue to heal. For more information on yoga and how it can benefit your muscles and tendons, read the article, Proof That Yoga Can Beat This Kind of Pain.