Why Back Pain is an Issue for Athletes and Young Adults

Why Back Pain is an Issue for Athletes and Young Adults | Forces of Nature Blog
By Karen W.


While no unusual complaint – back pain is the 5th most common reason for physician visits in the United States. Many people don’t realize that back pain can affect individuals of all ages, activity levels, and lifestyles. In fact, as counterintuitive as it may seem, back pain affects many young adults and athletes, and there’s some big reasons why.

Compared to the average person, athletes (even those participating recreationally) put their bodies through much more strenuous activity than normal. Many athletic activities put the spine under stress and require it to adsorb greater amounts of pressure, and this can cause the back, regardless of the health of the individual, to be susceptible to a few different causes of back pain. 

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, musculoligamentous strains, typically known as back strains, are the most common cause of back pain for athletes. While back strains typically heal on their own, they may require an athlete to take time from their typical training regime, change the way in which they warm up and carry-out their activity, and often leave individuals in a fair amount of pain while the strain is healing. 

Over the counter medications may be prescribed for pain management, but alternative, natural methods of pain relief, such as the Forces of Nature Back Pain Relief rollerball are also viable options for individuals dealing with strain-related back pain, and use natural methods such as Arnica, Ruta Graveolens, and Aesculus Hippocastanum to reduce inflammation and lessen muscle pain.

In addition to athletes, young adults are a group especially susceptible to back pain due to the use of smartphones. A study by UCLA states that a whopping 88% of teens have access to smartphones, and the percentage only seems to be increasing. During a time when the body is growing and changing rapidly, repeated, lengthily use of smartphones has an immense effect on teens posture.

The reason for this is that when one uses a smartphone, they typically tilt their head forward, as much as 60 degrees. When tilted forward at angle, the weight of the head greatly increases regarding how much strain is put on the cervical spine. For example, tilting the head down only 15 degrees is equal to putting 27 pounds of pressure on the cervical spine. Unsurprisingly, this can cause neck and back pain. 

While this issue can be remedied by focused attention and work on posture, reduction of screen time, and changing of positions used when holding a cell phone, pain can be distractingly high, and may take a while to go away even when measures are taken to fix the issue.

For young adults that are often juggling many things throughout the day, a quick, long-lasting aid for pain management such as the unique rollerball Back Pain Relief formula from Forces of Nature can be an effective and easily implemented measure to reduce back pain caused from this issue.



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