Posts Tagged ‘Adult Americans’
Dealing With Lower Back Pain
Four out of every five adult Americans will experience lower back Pain at one time in their lives. Sometimes it’s a mild strain or sprain that goes away after a couple of days. Other times, lower back Pain lasts for weeks or months.
Ironically, a simple muscle spasm can cause more Pain than a herniated disk. In fact, despite the fear of herniated disks, they are the cause of only four percent of back pain cases in the USA each year.
Looking at the causes of lower back Pain
1. Muscle strains from activities including heavy lifting, sports activities, whiplash from a car accident, or twisting.
2. Herniated disk (slipped dieck) resulting in the disk pressing a spinal nerve.
3. Spondylosis, also known as spinal osteoarthritis, is a degenerative disease often found in the elderly. Osteoarthritis results from the breakdown of cartilage in the facet bones of the spine. With no cartilage, stiffness and occurs.
4. Spinal stenosis which is the narrowing of an area of the spine. If a nerve is affected by the narrowing, then pain may occur. Spinal stenosis can ofthen be brought on when walking. Regardless of the symptom, the best plan is to avoid the activity that rings on the pain.
Treating lower back pain
1. Lower back muscle strains: Get ice on the back as soon as possible. Ice your lower back 5 – 6 times per day for 10 -1 5 minutes. Do this for the first 48 hours. If you are not feeling any better, go and see your physician, but usually for a strain, the pain will begin to subside albeit possibly slowly.
Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medicine such as ibuprofen is often recommended by doctors. Call your advice nurse or go and visit your doctor to see what dosage should be taken.
2. Herniated discs: most people recover from herniated discs within a couple of months. At first your doctor will likely treat a herniated disc similarly to a muscle strain in that icing and anti-inflammatory drugs may be involved. In the unlikely event that this dies not solve it, surgery may be an alternative.
3. Osteoarthritis: although this is a degenerative condition, it sounds a lot worse than it is. Treatment may include anti-inflammatory medicine, muscle relaxants, together with exercises to help support the spine. In 75% of cases, this approach will succeed.
4. Spinal stenosis: initially treatment may focus on removing the source of the pain, be that walking, running, etc. Ultimately, surgery may be necessary, and the success rate is high resulting in an increase in mobility and activity level.
Frank Thornton
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/dealing-with-lower-back-pain-119605.html
Trackbacks
Back Pain Through Overweight – Are You Affected?
Nowadays, more and more people are becoming Overweight. The main reasons for being Overweight are a low energy expenditure and – first and foremost -wrong eating habits. According to the American Obesity Association (AOA) 64.5% of all adult Americans (about 127 million people) are categorized as being Overweight or obese. In many other developed countries the figures are similarly alarming. Overweight and obesity are about to turn into a global epidemic. To carry about extra weight with oneself can result in several serious health issues, such as back pain through overweight.
Most people are aware of the more commonly known causes for overweight, such as coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and colon cancer. The majority of people, however, is not fully conscious of the health risk posed by back pain through overweight. Overweight contributes to different symptoms – the most common symptoms are osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, spinal stenosis and degenerative disc disease. If you are overweight and suffer from back pain you shouldn’t take your problem lightly. The first instance of back pain can be considered as acute or short-term pain. After about 2 month the complaint is becoming chronic and usually much more difficult to treat than acute pain.
Fortunately, compared to some more complicated causes of back pain, back pain through overweight is easy to identify. Even experienced sports physicians and doctors find it hard to exactly identify some causes of back pain, because the reasons can be of a very complex nature. However, if you are overweight you know the reason for your back pains. Your spine has the function to carry your body’s weight and to balance your body. When your spine is forced to carry a lot of weight, this can lead to structural compromise, poor posture and even severe damages. Back pain through overweight can easily lead to chronic complaints and you should take immediate action in order to get rid of your extra pounds.
The lower back is most susceptible to the effects of overweight. Lower back pain through overweight is caused by problems relating to your lumbar spine. Apart from overweight, back pain is also caused by an insufficient amount of exercises for your back and your pelvis base as well as by a sedentary resulting in a poor flexibility and weak muscles in your lower back. This leads to your lower back being increasingly curved because the pelvis shifts slightly forward. The result is chronic lower back pain, and if you want to solve your problem you have to lose your extra pounds. Back pain through overweight is definitely curable by keeping a healthy and balanced diet.
The most important factor when it comes to weight loss is to permanently integrate some significant changes into your eating habits. If you change some important key factors on a permanent basis you won’t fall into the yo-yo effect trap. Combined with some physical activity you will be able to lose weight once and for all. And by losing weight you will not only get rid of back pain through overweight, but you will also be able to prevent some serious health issues, such as coronary heart disease and colon cancer.
Oliver Hetzel
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/back-pain-through-overweight-are-you-affected-723899.html
Trackbacks
