General Tips
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Now it's a time for visiting physician
Maybe you have some unusual sensation in your legs, or your back pain lasts for a couple of days.
It is time to visit a physician.
A physician should be notified immediately:
If there is no relief from pain after a few days in bed,
If pain is severe or recurs,
If radiating pain, numbness, tingling, or weakening occurs in the arms or legs,
If bowel or bladder dysfunction occurs.
You must do the same if a child or elderly person has back pain, or if fever and/or vomiting occurs with back pain.
The common causes of lower back pain?
Pain in the lower back can restrict your activity and reduce your work capacity and quality of enjoyment of everyday living.
Low back pain can be caused by a number of factors from injuries to the effects of aging. The most common causes of low back pain are: low back sprain and strain, age, osteoporosis and fractures and protruding disk.
Why neck and back?
The areas in the back that typically result in pain complaints are the neck and low back (lumbar area). Both the neck and lumbar area have the most rotation and are under the most stress from activity.
Faulty Facet Joints
Facet joints, the interlocking bones at the rear of the spine, can cause pain if the surrounding muscles are sprained (torn) or strained (stretched to far), perhaps by a sudden jerk or twist. They can also cause pain if the bones become worn due to arthritis or gradual wear and tear occurring naturally with aging, or if the discs that cushion them break down, causing friction as the joint becomes unnaturally compressed. Facet joint problems can trigger muscular backache by sending nearby muscles into painful spasms to immobilize the area.
Missed workdays
Back pain is a great problem in humanity, even like common cold.
In fact, it's the second most common cause of missed workdays due to illness and the most common cause of disability.
Fortunately, only 5% to10% of cases will become chronic but these chronic conditions account for 90% of the healthcare expenditures for back pain.
Other episodes of back pain resolve with time: approximately 50% of patients will experience relief within two weeks and 90% within three months.
Arachnoiditis
Arachnoiditis is a chronic inflammation of the arachnoid layer of the meninges, which are the coverings of the brain and spinal cord.
Arachnoiditis has been known to the medical profession for many years as a rare complication of spinal surgery, trauma and meningitis. The major symptom is severe chronic intractable pain, usually in the lower back, legs and feet initially, characteristically described as burning.
Other Causes
About 10% of back pain can be attributed to uncommon medical conditions. Those conditions include the following: ankylosing spondylitis, fractures, hyperlordosis and hyperkyphosis, infections, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, pregnancy, scoliosis, spinal stenosis, spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis, tumors and whiplash.
Acute pain
There may be an acute injury that causes your back to begin to hurt, but the overall condition of the lumbar spine is also very important. It determines how fast you will recover and the risk of the condition becoming chronic.
Acute back pain
Acute back pain often goes away by itself in a few days or weeks. An ice bag or hot water bottle applied to the back may also help to alleviate pain.
Chronic pain
Repeated injuries add up, and can slowly cause degeneration of the parts of the spine and low back pain.
Disc Herniation
Spinal discs are flat, round structures that consist of a tough outer ring of fibrous tissue surrounding a gelatinous center. These cushioning spinal discs are like shock absorbers, and can wear out, especially with punishment. The disc begins to slip out of its place between the vertebra, causing a bulge and pain by irritating nerves within the discs outer shell. If the disc herniates, or ruptures, the resulting protrusion can press on a nerve of the spinal cord or even on the spinal cord itself. Excruciating pain will be felt locally, and typically in other areas of the body, legs or feet.
| Guru Spotlight |
| Patricia Walters-Fischer |
