There’s an estimate of 14 million people that visit doctors for back pain on a yearly basis. It is common for people to have back pain or some time in their lives. Though it is hard to say that every chronic low back pain sufferer has it in their genes, there are enough studies to support the fact that a connection for sure exists between back pain and genes.
Back pain can be well influenced by factors including the age of a person, their job, posture, environmental factors and even genetic factors. In the past, researchers were seen struggling with the fact that factors like stress, smoking, and diet alone are associated with back pain.
There is, however, a progress in studies that are now becoming successful at finding a strong genetic link, concretely the development of the lumbar degenerative disc disease (LDDD). Wear and tear is a normal process of the spine and tends to affect discs and vertebrae in the lumbar spine most often. In fact, several twin sibling studies and genetic marker studies are seen to research this connection.
Back Pain: It All Runs in the Family
At some point in their lives just about everyone is destined to experience any sporadic back pain. When most people get better with little or no care, others may find a delayed response when it comes to healing. It is a common complaint that persistent back pain runs in the family with no clear reasons at all.
Patients that have got back pain are seen to report their dad or grandad having it too, but this could be only true to extents like they were in the same work line or played some high impact sports.
Researchers and regarding colleagues were able to track low back disease running in families due to a unique registry protocol known as the Utah Population Database. This alone contained an extravagant amount of health and genealogical information for exactly 2.4 million residents of the state.
There’s a puzzling aspect to intervertebral disc–related low back pain disease revealing some people experiencing it suffer from excruciating pain, while on the other hand some experience no pain at all.
A study conducted in the University of Utah claimed of the appearance of a genetic component to whether disc disease followed any symptoms. But concluding this study we can’t really say that people who are predisposed to having certain genes encounter more disc problems or they experience more pain.
A growing body of research believes that pain susceptibility is inherited, though no actual pain genes have been identified. On the other hand, Spine Surgeon Daryll C. Dykes says he’s not surprised by the findings presented by the Utah Study.
A spokesman and surgeon, Dykes, of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons further reports of being strongly suspicious of the fact that genes are a factor in low back pain and that there’s no presence of good scientific study to back it up. He further added that people with a history of any low back pain condition can lower their risk of developing it by maintaining a healthy weight, abstaining from smoking and taking up cardiovascular and core strengthening exercises.
Additionally, another type of exercises that can be beneficial are the ones that decompress your spine. A special device called the Backrack can be utilised for this.
Backrack Exercises Help Treat & Prevent Back Problems
Relation between Back Pain and Genetics
There was a study back in 2009 known as the Twin Spine Study that had actually begun in 1991. It was a multidisciplinary and multinational research project cantered on the cause of disc degeneration. There were collaborators from Canada, Finland, and the US.
Among the prominent findings were the study explaining the substantial influence of genetics on lumbar disc degeneration. The study was seen to succeed in identifying genes that were associated with intervertebral disc degeneration. Although environmental factors get involved, disc degeneration is still greatly determined by genetic influences.
But a study in the year 2011 cantered on genetics and lumbar disc disease revealed evidence on back pain running in families, where more broadly symptomatic lumbar disc disease has inherited a condition caused by herniated discs in the lower back.
Though the researchers fail at determining the severity of the patient’s disease or his response to the treatment, this study does succeed in revealing that genetics are important role players.
Other definitive findings from the study include:
- People having lumbar intervertebral disc disease are more likely to have family members with the disc disease.
- The risk of lumbar disc disease significantly increases in both close and distant relatives.
Specific genes that have an impact on the degeneration and back pain is now researched on.
If you haven’t been diagnosed with a spinal condition, you may talk to your doctor about preventing the causes of back pain that could possibly work for you. Some things like physical therapy could possibly prevent your back pain from getting worse, whether it’s due to genetics or not. Not being 100% conclusive, there’s very strong evidence supporting there’s a genetic component to disc degeneration and disc herniation or disc bulge.
Author: Spinal Backrack
