What is the lower back pain?
In general, the mild to unbearable pain that is associated with the lower part of the back due to having some injuries (strains or trauma) to the muscles or tendons in the back, or medical conditions or some professions which interferes with the normal activities of everyday life is well-familiar as lower back pain, although, pain may arise in the upper region of back as well.
At the moment, the lower back pain is considered as the world's most common ailment among the all-ages and all-classes of people around the world. If anyone takes sufficient rest and maintains the healthcare provider treatments and advices, it is possible to reduce or prevent the pain within few days to months which ultimately helps to come back to the normal life to perform the daily activities like before.
What are the causes to develop the lower back pain?
Lower back pain may cause for different reasons. such as, numerous strains or injuries, diseases or even some jobs or activities. The effects may vary from person to person.
- Heavy or unsafe lifting: Some injuries of back muscles, ligaments, tendons are happening because of carrying excess objects with giving tremendous pressure on back or taking the overweight goods unsafely by the support of back, which finally result to occur lower back pain. In addition to this, some illnesses may cause pushing the inappropriate pressure to back or bending of the back, for examples, coughing, sneezing.
- Disk issues: Due to the presence of some degenerative disk diseases which can develop at certain ages, disks may be plain, tear and less stronger than normal. When the disks become weak, it pushes pressure to the roots of spinal nerve which causing severe pain to the disks area, known as herniated disk.
- An accident: If any fractures happen to the bones of lower back due to an accident, this may trigger as back pain.
- Fractures: Some diseases like, Osteoporosis, Spondylolysis (causes small crack or fracture of the bone in the spine) may have the tendency to fracture the bone in the spine of the lower back region.
- Some other diseases, include abdominal aortic aneurysm, ankylosing spondylitis (causes joint inflammation of the spine), arthritis, Cauda equina syndrome, different kinds of cancer in the spine, fibromyalgia, lordosis, lower back region infections, kyphosis, Scoliosis, Spinal stenosis, Spine tumors, shingles, sciatica, Spondylolisthesis, even kidney infection or kidney stones may play role to emerge lower back pain.
What are the common symptoms of lower back pain?
The symptoms of lower back pain are as follows -
- Continuous mild to severe back pain to the lower back regions, sometimes, pain can go to the buttock as well as legs area
- Fever
- Improper bowel movement
- Swelling or inflammation on the back
- Stiffness which leads to difficulty in walking, standing, moving, even urination or defecation
- Numbness around the buttocks, genitals, anus, legs
- Severe muscle spasm or cramp in the lower back
- weakness
- weight loss
What are the diagnosis processes for lower back pain?
The healthcare provider or doctor will examine the patient physical conditions carefully at first, along with this, may check the responses and reflexes of certain pain sensations which help to detect either nerve is affected or not affected to the lower back. In some cases, the practitioners may take the help of some laboratory tests, such as, MRIs or CT scans, X-rays, Ultrasounds, Electromyography (EMG) to specify the problems either it relates to disks or tendons or ligaments or muscles or bones or nerves etc.
What are the risk factors for occurring the lower back pain?
There are some factors that taken into account as triggers to develop the lower back pain. Among these,
- Age: With the increasing age (above 30 years), disks in the spine of lower back may become wane and start to decay, which eventually, produce mild to severe pain and inflammation that may cause unbearable pain as well as unable to do normal functions of an individual life. According to the report. it is normally observed in the people ages between 30 years and 50 years.
- Structural Problems: Due to the lacking of proper arrangement of spine (especially, scoliosis condition), severe and unbearable back pain may be arise.
- Sitting position: To work continuously for long times at a blending position may result for starting the lower back pain.
- Excess weight: Any kinds of overweighs may be the reason to arrive the lower back pain, such as, take heavy weight which give a huge pressure on the back or individual over weight or obesity. Also, pregnancy increases the body weight and give some extra pressure to the lower part of the back.
- Some health conditions: Those who are suffering from osteoarthritis or having tumors in the any positions of back spine or cancer diseases, are more prone to appear the lower back pain.
- Sedentary lifestyles: Some sedentary lifestyles, for examples, drinking too much alcohol, smoking cigarettes or no physical activities at all, are contributed to evolve the lower back pain.
- Mental Health: Some mental situations, for instances, depression, anxiety, stress, tension may thrive to grow lower back pain.
What are the treatments for reducing the lower back pain?
Depending on the severity of the symptoms, the way of treatment may differ from patient to patient. Initially, doctors recommend the home therapies after completion of diagnosis, if patient condition remains same or become more severe, then needs to take some medical treatments.
- Home therapy: To relief the lower back pain at home, some remedies are taken into account as advices from experts - Heat and Cold therapy, take sufficient rest, use pillow or support beneath thighs or between two legs during sleeping, a tolerable warm bath, and some available OTC pain medications (Etoricoxib, Celecoxib, Ibuprofen, Naproxen etc.).
- Medical Treatments: The healthcare practitioner may prescribe the following medicaments as the beneficiary for treating the lower back pain-
- NSAIDs: The non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs),for examples, Combination of Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen, Etoricoxib, Celecoxib, Naproxen are very popular to reduce the pain, inflammation in conjunction with the lower back pain.
- Muscle relaxants: Among others, Tolperisone Hydrocloride are very famous and available in every pharmacy premises.
- Some narcotics are also used to handle severe pain associated with some diseases, such as, chronic lower back pain, different types of cancer, though, it should be limited to use due to produce addiction.
- To reduce inflammation, may recommend corticosteroid injections.
- Some physical therapies may contribute to manage pain - massage with painkiller creams/gels/ointments/oils, acupuncture, stretches, some specific strength work out, manipulation of the back and spinal region.
- Surgery may suggest in case of severe cases - Discectomy, Foraminotomy, Radiofrequency lesioning, Nucleoplasty, IDET(intradiscal electrothermal therapy), Spinal fusion, spinal laminectomy
- Some supports, especially lumbar support is used to reduce back pain by holding the position of back.
What should follow to prevent the lower back pain?
There are some steps people should follow to prevent or reduce the back pain -
- Maintain the body weight as per BMI
- Use leg support to lift any objects rather than back support
- Avoid to work continuously in a sitting position
- Do regular exercises that are recommended by your provider
- Avoid sedentary lifestyles by converting into perfect lifestyles
- Manage your mental health.
- Limit to drink alcohol
- No smoking at all
- Avoid taking overweight
- Stay connected and Counsel with doctors on a regular basis regarding your illness.