If you have back pain in the morning, and especially if your back pain is worse in the morning, try answering the following questions:
Since when do I have back pain?
Did I just wake up with back pain one morning, or was it a problem that gradually settled?
Since when do I have back pain in the morning?
The fact of asking yourself the question can sometimes lead to the explanation, especially if this morning back pain is quite recent.
1. Not long ago
What changed in my lifestyle, or what physical activity have I done in the last three days, which could explain this morning back pain?
- Did I sleep on a new mattress?
- Did I carry some furniture or some heavy objects?
- Have I maintained a poor posture while sitting at the computer for a long time?
- Did I practice any sport, especially something that I’m not used to doing, or not with the same intensity?
If your answer is yes to any of these questions, the case is quite simple and the solution is to rest for 2 or 3 days, take anti-inflammatory drugs and go to the doctor if your condition has not improved after 3 days.
2. I’ve had morning back pain for a while and it’s not getting any better…
If you wake up with back pain, but you don’t remember exactly when this started, things are going to be a little more complicated.
The question of the mattress and the correct posture when sitting are still relevant: if you’ve been sleeping for a long time in a mattress that does not offer enough support, it is our first suspect.
A good night sleep is supposed to have a soothing action on the body and on the back but sleeping on a bad mattress, sooner or later, leads to back pain.
Just like sitting for hours, all day, all week, all year …
Have you seen a doctor?
Nobody likes to go to the doctor, especially since nobody is safe from bad news. But when you have back pain when you wake up, and it does not go away, you have to go see the doctor.
Not the osteopath or chiropractor: go to a real doctor!
Everyone prefers the osteopath or chiropractor because they’re not going to tell you that you need to have surgery, but the doctor is probably not going to tell you that either.
Go to the doctor first to have a consistent medical diagnosis based on X-rays, scan, MRI if needed, and then you are free to go to the osteopath if you think he can help you.
If you can eliminate the easily recognizable causes of morning back pain, and that this morning back pain has made your life difficult for a while, but you can not remember precisely since when then we must turn to classical back pathologies to try to find the explanation.
Morning back pain causes
Is it Low back pain? Unlikely, unless you have chronic low back pain. Even if lumbago can nail you to your bed with pain, normally it does not last, or in any case, it gives you some rest from time to time.
Herniated disc? Nope. When you’re in pain from a herniated disc, you hurt all the time, not only in the morning. If your back pain fades a little after the morning shower, it is probably not a problem of herniated disc especially since it is often accompanied by sciatica and the pain is felt 24/7
Degenerative disc disease? Here’s our guy. Amongst the symptoms of degenerative disc disease, there is an increase in pain after you don’t move for a while, caused by the fact that under the effect of the loss of volume of one or several intervertebral disks, the bones can touch each other (vertebrae ends), causing inflammation, pain and,… yes, morning back pain. The same is true for people with osteoarthritis or ankylosing spondylitis.
To avoid the bones touching each other, the body starts growing bones on bones (AKA bone spurs) and those also hurt, particularly when the body stays put for a while, which is what happens when we sleep.
Morning back pain that doesn’t go away, if you do not have an explanation, you really need to figure it out.
That’s why it’s better to go to see a doctor.
