The first blamed muscle spasms, one diagnosed scoliosis, another blamed narrowing of the spinal canal, and still another said it was arthritis. Sitting and stress. But research offers at least a clue, and the worst culprit is modern life. Sitting too much, for instance, leads to far more back pain than does heavy lifting. Some research finds especially high rates of back pain among truckers and others who drive for a living, and epidemiological studies show that as office work has replaced heavy labor, more people have complained about their backs.
Further research supports the intuitive idea that stress can lead to back pain.
One study finds that patients who do not show physical signs of injury are more likely to report high levels of stress than back sufferers with a glaring physical problem. Another links episodes of back pain to stressful events. For decades, doctors have sent patients with back pain to bed with strict orders to stay there for at least a week. Early logic had it that, just like a broken bone, an injured back should not be used until it has healed. But now, doctors say the key to the fastest recovery is to stay out of bed as much as possible.