Low back pain is a common ailment of the older population. Due to frail body and accelerated bone degeneration, geriatric or the older population finds themselves an easy victim to the grabs of the low back pain .

The older populations are more prone and vulnerable community that can fall prey to low back complains very easily. The low back pain in such a population can be due to the following reasons such as:

• Accelerated degeneration of the bones
• Decreased muscle mass
• Low mineral bone density
• Diminished mobility
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Poor postures
• Poor muscular support
• Scoliosis
• Increased kyphotic posture

If you look at the lifestyle patterns then sedentary lifestyle is a major reason for people to suffer from the low back pain complaints. The low back also leads to development of different deformities as the muscular support is not strong enough to overcome it and postural compensations can lead to these developments. Kyphosis or excessive stooping from the upper back causes the prominence of a hump in the region that causes biomechanical changes in the lower body. This in turn affects the walking pattern and overall balance of the individual. The balance gets altered as the body compensates to overcome the effect of gravity. Low mineral density is another factor for causing low back pain in older population. With decreased in the bones to support the body weight with poor muscular support further aggravates the problem of low back pain.The bone mineral density is low due to inadequate vitamin D and or calcium. Due to accelerated degeneration of the bones and poor supplementation of vitamin D and calcium can further make the bones weak and brittle and hence increasing the incidences of generalized body pain, lethargy are some of the common symptoms. Scoliosis is another deformity experienced by geriatric population due to unequal weight distribution and poor posture.

Treatment for old age patients for low back pain involves them to utilize and enhance the functional capacity of the spinal muscles that supports the body and hence prevents further deterioration. Rather than the strength just focusing on activating the stabilizer muscles of the body can bring about a huge difference in the overall picture of deconditioning in such a population. Improving the functional goals of making them to walk, stand for longer time can be appreciable in this group of population.
The focus of patients with back pain should be to enhance and improve the quality of life so that they can spend their remaining years of life by performing the activities of daily living.

Author's Bio: 

Shanewastson is the heath care advisor at QiSpine Clinic. QiSpine clinic is the Spine Specialist offering best back pain treatment in Bangalore also in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.