Expert: Dr. J. Shawn Leatherman - 7/27/2006

Question
I find that when I am awake for more than maybe 12 hours my back will start to hurt in certain poses or when lifting certain amounts of weight. I'm only 25 and male. Should I be suffering from back pains like this at such a young age? I feel find when I'm rested, but when I'm awake for too long my back really hurts me.

Answer
Dear James,

First of all it is never normal to be in pain, at any age.  Many people may say, "it's is just normal back pain" ...what they should say is, "It's just common back pain."  Cancer is common in our society, but definitely not normal.  I am sure you see where I am going with this.

Concerning your pain, worse without rest, better with rest, you need to look closely at your daily environment:  work, recreation, home life, fitness levels and conditioning.  All of these factors will affect your function of the low back as well as pain.  Do you sit in a chair properly, how is your posture, do you lift objects properly, is your diet high in foods that promote inflamation in the body?  Again evaluate your situation and look for simple changes that you may be able to make on your own.  When I evaluate my new patients, I always find contributory factors for pain and dysfunction that can be controlled by them.

As far as the sleep issue goes, yes lack of rest and good sleep can cause a rise in pain, but 7-8 hours is usually a sufficient amount of sleep for the body to recouperate.  Unless you have had a recent injury or damage to the tissues.  Your quality of sleep is more important than the quantity.  If you sleep 10 hours a night, but are frequently awoken for any reason, you are not getting into the deep rapid eye movement sleep, (REM), that your body needs.  A typical person should go through 3-4 REM sleep cycles per night.  If awoken you never have the chance to get into the REM cycle as it is the last cycle in the sleep sequence.  

Finally this may be as simple as overloading the muscular sysytem throughout the day.  Remember the questions above.  Also throughout the day you can take periods after work, or on your lunch break to stretch the back, practice some range of motion activites/exercises, deep breathing techniques or lie down for a power nap 20-30 minutes.  This can do alot to relax and revitalize the tissues as well as the mind. In addition the mind is a valuable part of pain...what is pain without suffering?  The body transmits pain signals to the brain where they are interpreted.  Only when you suffer is pain relevant and many pain signals from the tissues are ignored because they are not strong enough to promote an awareness of suffering.  In other words your thought process and interpretation will affect how much it hurts.

Try to look at yourself and your functioning on a daily basis.  Take the factors discussed above into account and work to correct small problems that may be contributory to your symptoms.  Give it two weeks and look for an improved outcome.  If you are still having the same problems, find a good local chiropractic physician, get an examination and see if there is an anatomical reason for your pain.   

respectfully,
Dr. J. Shawn Leatherman