Every third Austrian suffers from back pain. The particularly intense pain in the lower back, however, mainly affects women. In fact, due to the physiological differences between women and men, the stronger back pain in the lumbar spine is also due to a higher number of causes.

What are the causes of low back pain?

What are the causes that make women more likely to have lower back problems?

• The most common are the back pain caused by menstrual pain. The repeated spasmodic contracting of the uterus during menstruation causes pulling pains that radiate from the abdomen to the lumbar spine area. Here, a hot water bottle can help to relax, even a dose of magnesium has an anti-spasmodic effect. If you have similar pain outside of the rule, you should seek medical attention to determine whether there may be a gynecological disease (endometriosis or fibroids).
• During a progressive pregnancy, lower back strain is more likely to be caused by the higher load on the spine or an evasion into the hollow back.
• Often the menopause of the woman, when the body is "under construction", accompanied by complaints in the lumbar spine area. After completing the menopause, many women report, the pain subsides again. More serious is the finding when the pain is caused by osteoporosis, ie beginning bone loss. This disease is more common in women due to the now declining estrogen levels than in men. By a bone density measurement you can have the suspicion clarified by a doctor.
• Also, too often wearing high shoes, a pelvic obliquity caused by legs of different lengths or stress can cause pain in the lumbar region.

What's the best way to combat low back pain?

Australian researchers wanted to find out how best to fight lumbar pain. The team around Dr. Daniel Steffens from the University of Sydney evaluated 21 clinical trials involving a total of 30,850 subjects. The participants were in the professional life and complained for various reasons about pain in the lower back. Measurements included exercise (physiotherapy or sports), shoe inserts, back straps, and education on the cause and treatment of back pain. The success of each measure was measured by whether they could prevent back pain and prevent sickness. It turned out that the best method against deep-seated back pain is exercise. It reduces the risk of a new episode of pain by 35 percent, while the back straps and shoe insert have little effect. The likelihood that the back pain necessitates a sick leave even drops by 78 percent through a movement program. However, the studies also found that protection from low back pain did not persist. After a year, the effect had disappeared – was the therapy combined with education, she also continued beyond, but in a milder form. The reason: Most of the subjects stopped after the study with the movement. For a real protection but regular sport is inevitable. And, another tip: If you have to sit in the office a lot, you should always change the seating position and get up in between and stretch you. Here are 5 simple exercises for back pain.