The Surprising Most Common Cause of Lower Back Pain

The survey team found that recent sexual activity and use of alcohol had no relationship to back pain episodes. In fact, the data even suggested that people who had recently had sex or had used alcohol could have been less likely to suffer back pain.

However, everything else on their list positively correlated with the risk of back pain.

• Patients who engaged in moderate or vigorous physical activity were 2 to 3 times more likely than average to suffer lower back pain.
• Patients who said they felt fatigued before the back pain episode were 2 to 6 times more likely to suffer back lower pain.
• Patients who had lifted heavy loads were 3 to 7 times more likely than average to suffer lower back pain.
• Patients who had tried to pick up loads that were unstable or hard to grasp were 2 to 10 times more likely than average to suffer lower back pain.
• Patients who had performed a manual task involving people (letting children ride "horsie," for example) or animals (getting a cat down from a tree, leading a farm animal that did not want to be led) were 2 to 15 times more likely than average to suffer lower back pain.
• Patients who had tried to pick up an object that was not close to the body were 2 to 16 times more likely than average to suffer lower back pain.
• Patients who tried to lift an object from an awkward position or who had used awkward posture were 5 to 12 times more likely than average to suffer lower back pain.
• Most importantly, patients who had been distracted while lifting an object were 3 to 185 times more likely than average to suffer lower back pain.

The researchers found that more people to start suffering lower back pain between 7 am and noon than between noon and 7 pm. The study did not have enough patients to determine whether this was due to early morning grogginess, or poor organization of work tasks, or the fact that the disks swell with fluid overnight and are more "tender" in the morning. However, it appears that not paying attention to what you are doing, and doing it early in the morning, is an especially risky proposition for back pain sufferers.

Another interesting finding of the study was that 20-year-olds were five times more likely to report back strain due to lifting heavy loads than 60-year-olds. This could be due to the fact that most people have suffered at least one round of lower back pain by the age of 60, and are as a result more cautious when lifting heavy loads. 

See Also: Lower back pain: Causes and risk factors

Lower back pain is not just an accumulation of little back injuries over a period of years. Anyone can experience lower back pain the very first time he or she is exposed to a back pain trigger. Younger people are at greater risk than older people, even though the bone of the spinal column deteriorates with time. Distraction, not paying attention to what you are doing when lifting a heavy load, especially in the morning, is the single most common cause of lower back pain. Do heavy lifting only when you are wide awake, preferably in the afternoon, and always think before you lift.