Working a desk job in Singapore, it might be common to feel a bit of pain in your lower back. Of course, this will come from sitting all day. But there are also other causes of lower back pain and some might be more serious than others. Here are some you’ll want to look out for.

Having poor posture

Probably the most common cause of lower back pain in today’s time is poor posture. When you spend a long time sitting in front of the computer at your office or just lounging around at home scrolling on your phone, you usually won’t notice that you’re slouching. If you do slouch for long periods, it will negatively affect not only your lower back but your whole spine in general.

Sprains

Sprains and similar injuries are actually the most common cause of lower back pain. This is because they can happen as a result of many different things. You can get a sprain simply from lifting heavy furniture or while playing a sport. You can get a sprain if you overtrain or do some unnatural movements with your spine. While you can recover from these injuries there’s already a chance that lower back pain will still nag on you in the future.

If you have muscular imbalances

One cause of lower back pain that’s fairly hard to detect is if you have muscular imbalances. Simply put, if you’re using certain muscles more than others. Barbell squats, for example, is a compound exercise that targets the legs but also engages the core and upper back. If you have weak abdominal muscles, you’re lower back will end up taking all the strain. This goes for many other exercises that involve the core as well.

It may come with age

Lower back pain can also come as we get older. Disc degeneration comes with the process of aging and with it can be chronic back pain. This is probably one the trickiest to deal with because it’s natural. But there are many things we can do to at least delay the first instances of pain. It can be anything from maintaining proper posture, to having a healthy diet, even to having physical therapy! As long as you take care of your body as you age, you can delay the effects of disc degeneration.

Scoliosis

Some spinal conditions can also cause lower back pain and scoliosis is a more common one. Scoliosis is basically when the spine curves sideways or in an unnatural shape, like an S or a C. This will lead to unnecessary pressure in some areas in the back. Normally, one will need to go to a physical therapist for correction and to alleviate the effects of scoliosis. With that, the pain in the lower back might also be reduced.