Chronic back pain is a common problem reported by about 50 percent of adults living in community care facilities, according to one study. Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a disabling and challenging pain condition affecting older adults, who sometimes have to seek out professionals or the top spine specialist to find answers for their problems.
There are three primary reasons back pain tends to get worse with aging:
- Decreased muscle strength and mass associated with aging (sarcopenia).This could be due to a decrease in number of muscle fibers, the size of the individual fibers or both.
- Fast twitch fiber atrophy is also associated with aging. This results in slower muscle contraction but this can be reversed with training.
- Decreased muscle attenuation is associated with aging muscle.