Posts Tagged ‘Causes Of Lower Back Pain’
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
Lower Back Pain Treatments
Lower Back Pain is causing a great concern in the United States. Moreover because it is in a recent study it is anticipated that four out of five adults in the United States will experience lower Back pain in some point of their lives. Back pain being a common problem may sometimes hamper ones day to day life and may even lead to surgery. So it is always recommended to consult your physician even for the smallest back pain symptoms you will notice and get the advice before the problem grows.
Back Pain is indeed a very painful experience and ironically the severity of pain is often unrelated to the extent of physical damage it has caused. A simple strain can be extremely painful, while a herniated disk between vertebrate may cause little or no pain at all. That is why it is always beneficial that you may go in for many types of back pain tests that are available and can be administered to more accurately determine the cause of your pain.
Common causes of lower back pain can be found in the following:
• Injury to the bones, joints or ligaments in the lower back
• Smaller nerves running along and inside the spine becoming irritated or damaged
• Strain to the lower back muscles, or erector spine
• Damage to the intervertebral disks, which separate the vertebrate
• Irritated nerve roots connected to the hips, legs or even arms
At times many physical injuries can be attributed to specific incidents but still lower back pain may be slow-building, yet progressive. This can make it difficult to notice complicated lower back problems before they require treatment. Although lower back pain does not require emergency medical attention, a few symptoms may be signs of severe medical conditions.
Back pain as we have discussed is slow yet progressive and rarely requires emergency medical attention. But it is highly recommended that you consult your physician and follow his advice to avoid such emergency situations. In some cases if anytime you experience the following symptoms with a regular slow back pain you need to have an expert for emergency medical attention.
The symptoms are
Severe or constant pain in the lower back or abdominal region
Sudden bowel or bladder movements
A progressive feeling of weakness in the legs
An immediate medical attention saves you from any damage to your body and excruciating pain it may cause to you. For severe or chronic back pain, you should consider seeking lower back pain treatment, which is available in many forms. Lower back exercise can both help with back pain relief, and prevent it from recurring later. Most low back pain can be treated without surgery. Treatment involves using analgesics, reducing inflammation, restoring proper function and strength to the back, and preventing recurrence of the injury. Most patients with back pain recover without residual functional loss. Patients should contact a doctor if there is not a noticeable reduction in pain and inflammation after 72 hours of self-care. The best way is to take necessary precautions and make necessary changes in lifestyle, standing, sitting and sleeping positions and doing regular exercise. It is best to keep the back pain away from you and your family.
Dhiraj
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/lower-back-pain-treatments-127476.html
Trackbacks
Suffering From Lower Back Pain?
One of the top reasons that people miss school, work, and other things is due to lower back pain. This is a very common problem that can begin as a small pain and steadily increase over time or it could begin as a serious pain that needs immediate attention from a physician. There are some treatments for lower back pain, but often it can be difficult for people to completely get rid of the pain. Since this problem is causing so many people to miss out on obligations, it is a huge concern for physicians.
Sometimes lower back pain can move down the buttocks and legs, creating other problems. Often the pain is the result of nerves being pinched due to poor posture, straining of the muscles, and other problems. When there is a lot of pressure on the nerves in the lower back it is called sciatica. This is an incredibly painful problem and can last for a long time. Other causes of lower back pain come from being overweight and putting too much pressure on the lower back, sitting or standing in one position for too long without stretching or exercising, etc.
Ways To Relieve Lower Back Pain
The first thing you need to do when you experience lower back pain is to discover the source of the pain. Once you know what caused your pain, you will have a better idea of how to treat it. For example if you pain comes from sitting too long with poor posture, you may consider getting a back brace that helps you maintain better posture and take frequent breaks to stretch you back. If your lower back pain is the result of an injury, you may only be able to get pain relievers and take it easy for a while until the body naturally heals itself. Sometimes lower back pain requires surgery in the back in order to be relieved. Often when you don’t have any reason for having the lower back pain, you could have a serious problem and need to have it checked out immediately.
Serious conditions that can cause lower back pain include Arthritis, scoliosis, or even Cancer. The best thing is to seek treatment as soon as you detect the problem. That way you are more likely to take care of the problem before it gets worse. People that are known for treating lower back pain include physicians, osteopaths, chiropractors, and acupuncturists. If you are unsure what is causing the pain, it is recommended that you first see your primary practitioner and then go from there. For more information on lower back pain and its treatment, begin searching online. You may be able to discover a possible source for you lower back pain that you never considered before.
DOLA RAHEEM
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/suffering-from-lower-back-pain-108981.html
Related Articles
Trackbacks
Oh What a Pain This Is. Cause of Lower Back Pain
If the pain in your Back worsens, or you can’t find relief through moderate exercise and over the counter medications, it’s time to see a doctor to find the cause of lower Back pain. There can be many reasons why you’re having back pain and they can extend beyond simple muscle sprains. Finding the cause can be tricky though, because many times the problem won’t show up on an x-ray or MRI. For example, a spine slightly out of alignment with your body may not be very noticeable, yet it causes d8aily pain.
The doctor will do many tests to begin eliminating each possible cause of lower back pain. For example, he or she will manipulate the leg through various moves to determine if the pain increases or results in pain elsewhere in the body. Some tests you will be familiar with such as the reflex test. Other tests may be unfamiliar but they are very simple. If the doctor determines the basic moves indicate further testing is necessary to find the cause of lower back pain, the next steps will be taken.
Some of the tests the doctor will perform entail the use of very high tech medical equipment. Each test can provide a higher level of detail of your spine and surrounding muscle and ligaments. Most people have had an x-ray in their life, but an x-ray will only show bones. If the cause of lower back pain is muscle, tendon, ligament or nerve damage, the x-ray is pretty much a useless test.
The MRI, on the other hand, gives a lot more information about your back. It can show the doctor the condition of every part of the structure of your back including the nerves and discs. There are so many possible causes of lower back pain, that when pain won’t subside, the MRI is a great tool for diagnostic testing. Other testing methods include a CAT scan or a discogram. A discogram involves injecting dye into the spinal discs to pinpoint the source of pain.
So What can be the cause of lower back pain? There are numerous conditions that can result in ongoing back pain.
* herniated disc
* Pinched nerve
* Strained muscle
* Spinal tumor
* Degenerative disease
* Infection
* Arthritis
* Osteoporosis
* Fractures
With all these potential causes of back pain, it’s no wonder it can take several months and lots of testing to determine the problem. The lower back is particularly susceptible to pain, because it has a lot of pressure put on it while sitting. People who sit at desks all day frequently end up with lower back pain. In that case, strengthening the lower back muscles can work wonders. There are even special chairs made that take the strain and pressure off the lower back while sitting.
The good news is that most of the time the cause of lower back pain is quite simple, and can be corrected with moderate exercise.
Ben Thompson
http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/oh-what-a-pain-this-is-cause-of-lower-back-pain-330018.html
Trackbacks
