What is lumbar muscle strain?

Written by Na Hong Wei

Orthopedics

Updated on September 09, 2024

00:00

00:00

What is lumbar muscle strain? Lumbar muscle strain refers to the cumulative injury of muscles and fascia in the lumbar region caused by long-term unbalanced postures or incorrect positions during labor. It is one of the common causes of lumbar pain. How to understand this definition? Lumbar muscle strain is first and foremost a cumulative injury. What causes it? First, incorrect postures—sitting straight is necessary. Slouching or hunching over, especially when idle, or sitting askew, is detrimental. Second, certain types of labor, like that of miners or farmers transplanting rice, consistently place the lower back in an imbalanced state, perpetually bending forward. This day-to-day accumulation leads to lumbar muscle strain.

Other Voices

home-news-image

Written by Li Jie

Orthopedics

39sec

home-news-image

Can you swim with a strained lumbar muscle?

Lumbar muscle strain, as the name implies, is the fatigue damage to the lumbar spine muscles. It is characterized by tension, spasms, and adhesion of the lumbar muscles, sometimes accompanied by disorders of the lumbar facet joints, straightening of the lumbar curvature, and limited lumbar mobility. Swimming is permissible in such cases because the body is in a weightless state while swimming. This condition allows swimming to strengthen the muscles of the lower back and enhance the muscular strength of the lumbar spine, which can help in exercising and alleviating symptoms. Hence, it is said that one with lumbar muscle strain can swim.

home-news-image

Written by Li Jin

Orthopedics

1min

home-news-image

How to diagnose lumbar muscle strain

For the diagnosis of lumbar muscle strain, it is mainly based on symptoms, physical examination, or combined with imaging studies. The typical symptoms of lumbar muscle strain include soreness or swelling pain in the lower back, which worsens with exertion and lessens with rest. Patients are also unable to persist in activities that involve bending over. During a physical examination, tender points in the lower back may be found, or imaging studies can be used to rule out other lumbar spine conditions. Under these circumstances, a diagnosis of lumbar muscle strain can be made. Patients with lumbar muscle strain should pay attention to rest, and can use anti-inflammatory pain medications, combined with heat therapy, physiotherapy, massage, and blocking methods for treatment, which generally can effectively improve symptoms and promote recovery. (Specific medication use should be under the guidance of a doctor.)

home-news-image

Written by Na Hong Wei

Orthopedics

1min 37sec

home-news-image

Causes of Lumbar Muscle Strain

The causes of lumbar muscle strain generally include two points: First, after an acute lumbar injury, such as a sprain or trauma, proper treatment is not administered, and sufficient rest is not taken when needed, leading to improper treatment and eventually resulting in chronic lumbar muscle strain. The second point, which is also the main reason, is due to the lumbar region being in a state of continuous tension during prolonged work. This causes the muscles in the lumbar region to be under constant stress, then compressing the small blood vessels, leading to insufficient oxygen supply to the lumbar muscles, and causing metabolic byproducts like lactic acid to accumulate. This eventually stimulates local inflammatory responses that contribute to injury. Initially, the muscles themselves can make some compensatory adjustments. However, as the condition worsens, this ability to regulate increasingly diminishes until it can no longer adjust, leading then to compensatory regulation, also known as serial compensatory adjustment. Thus, if lumbar muscle strain is not treated properly or in a timely manner, the condition will progressively worsen, eventually causing the lumbar muscles to lose their original function and potentially leading to a deformity in the lumbar region. Therefore, the main reasons for lumbar muscle strain are firstly, improper treatment during the acute phase that transitions into chronic lumbar muscle strain, and secondly, the lumbar muscles being in a state of long-term overload, ultimately leading to strain.

home-news-image

Written by Li Jin

Orthopedics

56sec

home-news-image

Can lumbar muscle strain be cured completely?

Patients with lumbar muscle strain can generally improve their symptoms or even recover after rest or treatment. The main causes of lumbar muscle strain include long-term heavy physical activities involving the waist, poor posture, chronic strain, trauma, etc., which can cause symptoms such as back pain and limited mobility. These symptoms lessen after rest but can worsen after resuming strenuous activities. For the treatment of lumbar muscle strain, it is important first to rest and develop correct habits of using the waist to avoid long-term heavy physical activities involving this area. Treatment may include the symptomatic use of anti-inflammatory pain medications, combined with heat application, physical therapy, massage, or block therapy. These methods can play a positive role in symptom improvement and recovery. (Specific medications should be used under the guidance of a physician.)

home-news-image

Written by Na Hong Wei

Orthopedics

1min 6sec

home-news-image

Symptoms of lumbar muscle strain and fasciitis

First, it is a type of chronic pain without obvious causes, mainly characterized by soreness and swelling. The pain usually alleviates after rest but reappears if staying in one position for too long. Therefore, patients with myofascial inflammation caused by lumbar strain often feel restless. Second, there is usually a trigger point, typically located near or within a muscle, or at the junction between muscle and nerve. Pressing on the trigger point often results in radiating pain around it. Furthermore, the pain usually does not worsen but instead lessens over time, which is a key characteristic of myofascial inflammation. Third, the sacrospinalis muscle may become hardened or even spasm on one or both sides. Fourth, there is compensatory abnormal curvature of the spine, mainly presenting as protrusion or lateral curvature of the spine. Thus, the symptoms of myofascial inflammation from lumbar muscle strain usually include pain, specific pain points, surrounding muscle hardening, spasm, and compensatory spinal deformity.