Bones and disks in our spines can degenerate over time, causing stiffness and soreness. But back pain doesn't need to be an inevitable part of aging if you take the right lifestyle approach.

Oh, our aching backs! Nearly all of us experience back pain sometime in our lives, and the list of possible back pain causes is long — poor posture, being overweight, smoking, poor eating habits, spinal diseases, and other health conditions, including cancer. And then there's the number-one back pain cause: aging.

Just using our backs over time can cause back pain, says Robin Lustig, DC, a chiropractor at New Jersey Total Health Center in Lodi and Pompton Plains, N.J. "It's just normal wear and tear."

What's causing the ache? Your spine consists of individual bones called vertebrae, which are stacked one on top of the other. Between each vertebra are small joints that allow your spine to move and disks with jelly-like centers that act as shock absorbers and prevent your bones from rubbing against each other.

As we age, the disks between the vertebrae wear away and shrink, which causes pain and stiffness as the bones start to rub against each other. In addition, the space around our spinal cord narrows over time. This condition, known as spinal stenosis, also puts pressure on the cord and spinal nerves, causing pain.

If you overdo it, you may feel muscle soreness in your lower back. Should you break a bone or experience whiplash during your lifetime, you can accelerate a type of arthritis that can cause back or neck pain, Lustig says.

While disk degeneration and spinal stenosis are most commonly seen in older patients, they are becoming younger persons' problems, too, Lustig adds. "I'm seeing so many more young people — people in their twenties and thirties — who, if you X-rayed their spines, would show some level of arthritis or degenerative changes."

The reason is that more people, including children, are seriously overweight and have diabetes, which can create an inflammatory process in the entire body that results in neck and back pain, Lustig says.

Finding Back Pain Relief

If your back pain cause can be determined, the pain can be treated in three ways — with medications, therapeutic treatments or "physical medicine," and surgery, either singly or in combination.

Medications for back pain relief include:

• Aspirin or acetaminophen
• Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen and naproxen
• Steroids, which can be injected or taken orally
• Narcotics such as codeine or morphine

Physical medicine:

• Rest or restricting certain activities
• Physical therapy, including active therapy (stretching, weight lifting, aerobics) and passive therapy (heat, ice, massage, ultrasound, electrical stimulation.)
• Braces, usually wrapped around the back and stomach
• Chiropractic or manipulation therapy
• Traction (although scientific evidence of its effectiveness is lacking)
• Stress relief such as Pilates, yoga, or meditation

Surgery options:

• Spinal fusion to eliminate the motion between bone segments
• Disk replacement (similar to knee or hip replacement)

Prevention: The Key to Back Pain Relief

To keep your back from hurting as you age, it's very important to have good posture when you stand or sit, maintain a healthy weight, eat a good diet with needed nutrients for joint and bone health, exercise to keep your back and abdomen strong and flexible, and reduce stress. "People with healthy habits can age better," Lustig says.

If you do experience back pain, even if you think the cause is aging, don't ignore it. It could be a sign of a serious, but treatable disease. You don't have to live with back pain, no matter what your age. Talk to your doctor and see what can be done to provide back pain relief.