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Backache is one of the most common of all diseases - and probably the most disabling. Between one-half and three-quarters of British adults suffer from it. In any two week period between one-quarter and one-third of all adults get some back pain. Among 30 -, 40 - and 50 -year olds backache is so common as to be more normal than abnormal. The pain and the personal agony caused by all this backache is phenomenal but impossible to estimate in any measurable terms, and over the years doctors have made all sorts of attempts to work out just why we suffer so much from backache. Back pain first became a real problem when we started standing up and walking around erect, rather than on all fours.
If you believe in the creation of man then you will have to put the blame on our maker. But if you believe in evolution you will have to accept that we have not yet evolved far enough to make standing up physiologically sound. Although the vertebrae - the small bones which make up the spine - fit neatly on top of one another, they were never really designed for an upright posture. The spine is strong enough to withstand pressures of several hundred pounds and is so flexible that it can be bent to form two-thirds of a circle, but the intricate system of muscles, tendons and ligaments which keep the whole thing together can easily be damaged or disrupted in all sorts of ways. The spine acts as a scaffolding for the whole of the body with the skull, ribs, pelvis and limbs attached to it. Through its middle runs the extremely delicate spinal cord - so delicate that even a relatively slight physical abnormality can cause awful pains.
While a serious structural problem can cause paralysis and disablement. Two common causes of back pain are disc injury and degenerative disc disease. As discs degenerate, they lose their water content and height, bringing vertebrae closer together. The nerve openings are consequently narrowed and the added pressure from the disk can pinch a nerve causing back or leg pain. Often confused with each other, a bulging disc is normal, while a ruptured disc is not. A bulging disc is a normal process which happens as the discs carry body weight throughout the day.
The weight of the body causes the discs to "bulge" out. This "bulge" disappears at night as the weight is removed. A ruptured disc is an injured or damaged disc that leaks out watery jelly (called nucleus purposes) from the center of the disc. This leakage reduces the shock absorber effect and sometime the jelly presses against a nerve and causes pain, primarily leg pain. Back pain that becomes worse after sitting in one position for a long time may be caused by poor posture or by a badly-designed chair. Stress, anxiety and emotional worries can lead to muscle tension which results in aches and pains in the back.
This is one of the most common causes of back pain - probably affecting as many as eight out of ten sufferers.
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Research essay sample on One Of The Most Common Back Pain
