Back Pain

Back Pain: Don’t be Discouraged

Our spine is made up of a complex arrangement of ligaments, muscles, bones, and tendons, interconnected with nerves. This interconnected system makes us function properly and enables the mobility of an individual.  When there is a problem within these areas, it may lead to mild, or sharp or even chronic back pain.

Who are at high risk?

  • Age of the individual
  • An inactive lifestyle and Lack of exercise
  • A smoker
  • A pregnant woman
  • Bad posture
  • Physical Job with a lot of heavy lifting that would put a strain on the back
  • Sitting or standing for long periods of time
  • Heredity factors
  • Any form of accidental damages to the spinal nerves

Some symptoms to be aware of:

  • Experiencing constant pain or stiffness in your spine
  • Sharp local ache either in the upper back or lower back, usually occurs after finishing a heavy and tough lifting task
  • Constant ache in the middle or lower back and occurs due to prolonged sitting or standing at a single place
  • Feeling discomfort while standing or failure to stand straight without any ache
  • Pain that spread to the legs
  • Tenderness and swelling at the back
  • Feeling discomfort while urinating
  • Numbness around the genital organs, buttocks and around the anus

When to call a doctor?

  • Persistent numbness, weakness or tingling sensation either in your arms or legs may be the warning signal of your chronic ache, immediately seek medical attention.
  • Losing control over bowel movements, or frequently urinating with difficulty, burning sensation while urinating accompanied by fever, consult the doctor immediately.
  • If you have hurt or put pressure on the sciatic nerve, and it causes pain in the lower back that spreads to the hip, buttocks, and leg, seek help immediately.
  • The herniated disc is a condition in which the cushion that supports the bone is moved from the normal position, experiencing pain while coughing or bending.  As soon as possible seek a doctor’s help.

Red flag symptoms;

  • A past history of cancer
  • Sudden loss of weight
  • Chronic night time back pain
  • A past history of Intra-venous injection of drugs
  • Drugs that deteriorate the immune system
  • Trauma in the past
  • Prolonged pain for a month
  • Chronic ache which is getting worse
  • Past back pain therapies that did not work

How to keep back pain away?

  • Exercises: A routine exercises especially doing bridges and superman posture may help you reduce the ache away
  • Yoga: There are many different postures of yoga which help to ease the condition.  A few among them are as follows:
    • Cat – cow posture
    • Fish posture
    • Child’s posture
    • Eagle posture
    • Half-moon posture

Treatment for Back pain:

In most cases of acute pain, it can be treated well with strict medications and exercises.  It can be treated at home, though the condition may not be the same for every individual. When there is an increased and prolong ache at the back, you need to go for special medical treatments.

  • Medications:  Doctors may prescribe pain-killers, topical pain reliever lotion, antidepressants, muscle relaxants, and injections to treat the condition and get rid of backache as soon as possible.
  • Alternative treatment: A few alternative treatments may include, practicing yoga, acupuncture, physiotherapy, massage to lower the backache.

Surgery:  

A doctor may decide to perform surgery based on the health condition of the patient.  Some surgical procedures based on backache include fusion, Partial removal of vertebra, discectomy, and artificial disk.

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