Muscle spasms in back

What are the causes of the back muscle spasms?

Spasms are actually contractions of one or more muscles thathappen without a person’s will, and in this way, the body actually limits themovement of the muscle or muscles that are already injured, thus protectingthem. When it comes to the back, due to the spasm of any muscle of the backarea, the person will also feel tightness and stiffening, although the feelingwill be gone after a few minutes or even sooner. As for the causes of thisquite painful experience, there are several possible, but those that areidentified as the most common are overstraining of the muscles, improperposture, and improper lifting of some heavy things, which results in muscle strainor pulled muscle. However, besides these causes, calcium and potassium deficiencycan result in the back muscle pain, due to the low levels of electrolyte in thebody that they provoke. Women who are pregnant also experience this problemfrequently, as well as women during menstrual cycle. Even though it happensvery rarely, certain medications (particularly those that are very strong) canhave back muscle pain as one of the possible side effects. Muscle fatigue, damageof the nerve, injury to the spinal cord, physical trauma and conditions such asmultiple sclerosis can have this kind of pain as one of the symptoms.

How to deal with muscle spasms in the back?

Despite the fact that the back muscle spasms are more thanpainful, the truth is that it usually does not take more than a couple of daysor weeks for the problem to heal on its own. People are allowed to use somemedications that will relieve the pain, but they are advised to apply ice orheat pads for the same purpose, because this is more natural way of dealingwith the pain. They need to rest a lot and avoid strenuous activities, but forexample, if this problem is a result of some serious injury or trauma, or ifthe recovery period lasts for several weeks, then the person might experiencemuscular atrophy, which will only complicate the things more. This is why it ismore than helpful to begin with some stretching exercises, but light ones, of course,in order to improve muscle strength and flexibility and to make them lesssusceptible to strains, spasms or even tearing. Physical therapists might be ofgreat help here, because it is important to perform the exercises in thecorrect manner.