Is There Any Connection Between Heartburn And Back Pain?
Many people who suffer from heartburn also experience back pain. However, very few people understand or even recognize that there is any connection between heartburn and back pain at all. This is mostly because these two problems seem so unconnected to each other. One is regarding digestion and stomach and the other is regarding back muscles. You will be surprised to learn however that there is a definite association between these two conditions.
How Are The Heartburn And Back Pain Linked Together?
Heartburn is basically the result of back spilling of the acid created in and by the stomach to digest food. When this acid flows back into the food pipe it results into an acute burning sensation in the mid-chest area accompanied by sharp and continuous pain. People who suffer from this problem on a regular basis would be armed with antacids or herbal drinks that would remedy the problem in the shortest possible time.
Those who fall prey to this problem without any warning would not know immediately what to do to counter the discomfort they felt. In most cases, they would lie down in a reclining position to get some relief or take some over the counter drug.
So far so good; but what does heartburn and back pain have in common you would ask? Heartburn usually happens immediately after a (heavy) meal and therefore when you feel any discomfort you tend to lie down and sleep. As soon as you lie down in a supine position the heartburn would get aggravated as the acid back-spillage would increase aided by gravity.
Learning by trial and error, you are likely to find out that the best position when you suffer from heartburn is the reclining pose; and as soon as you feel a little comfortable you are likely to drift off to sleep. Here is how the heartburn and back pain link develops.
It is not easy to sleep in a reclining position however comfortable you may seem to be initially, since the body stays in an unnatural position and the back muscles tend to flex to compensate for it. The result is that after some time, you develop a back ache.
In other cases, heartburn pain could be so severe that it could radiate all over the lower back and shoulders, often giving the impression of a heart attack. In such cases the heartburn and back pain would be almost merged into one.
As you can observe, the back pain is a tangent side effect of heartburn and hence can be eliminated once the heartburn is treated successfully.
