Back pain: causes, diagnosis and treatment methods

Very often people of any age complain of back pain. A similar symptom indicates that a pathological process is taking place inside the body, requiring diagnosis and therapeutic measures. In order for the treatment to be chosen correctly, it is necessary to find out the cause of the pain in the back, and after that, select a set of measures aimed at eliminating it.

Causes

There are several main causes of back pain that cause patients to seek qualified help:

• Intervertebral hernia.
• Rupture of the fibrous ring.
• Stenosis of the spinal canal.
• Myogenic pain.
• Facet arthropathy.

For intervertebral hernia, the following symptoms are characteristic:

• History of trauma or permanent microtrauma to which people involved in sports, running, jumping.
• Back pain can be aggravated by coughing, sneezing, straightening legs, leaning forward and sitting for a long time.
• There may be disturbances in sensitivity, manifested in the form of numbness or crawling sensations on the skin.
• At a late stage, muscle strength decreases.
• The symptom of Lasega is positive.
• MRI and CT data suggest that changes in the form of a hernia and involvement of nerve endings have occurred in the spinal disc.

By these signs, you can determine the rupture of the fibrous ring:

• trauma described in history;
• sharp pain in the back, in the leg is not so pronounced;
• pain can be either bilateral or unilateral;
• symptoms indicate Laseg syndrome, but MRI and CT data do not confirm this fact;
• discomfort intensifies while sitting, with forward bending, sneezing and coughing.

Myogenic pain is a pain syndrome of muscle origin. It is characterized by such signs:

• there is a record in the history indicating constantly recurring overstrain of muscle fibers;
• relapses of the pain syndrome are associated with a load on the muscles;
• discomfort in the back increases with tension of the paravertebral muscles of the lower back;
• if you strain the gluteus, the pain appears in the thigh and buttock;
• pain in the lower back is localized on one or two sides;
• muscle soreness increases in the morning or after rest, as well as when cooling;
• if you work for a long time, using the muscles, then the pain syndrome grows, and the most discomfort is felt after the load is stopped;
• with CT or MRI, no pathologies are detected.

Lumbar stenosis is most often manifested due to age-related changes affecting the spine. It is characterized by such signs:

• discomfort in the back or leg appears after a long walk;
• symptoms increase if you continue to walk;
• weakness and numbness in the lower extremities;
• when bent, relief occurs;
• MRI and CT indicate a decrease in disc height, hypertrophy of the facet joints, degenerative spondylolisthesis.

With facet arthropathy, the following symptoms are characteristic:

• the patient has a history of injury;
• tension on one side over the joint;
• back pain manifests itself immediately when the spine is extended;
• discomfort increases with flexion to the sick side;
• the pain syndrome recedes if an anesthetic or corticosteroids are introduced into the joint.

Causes of Chronic Pain

Constant discomfort, crunch in the joints or back gradually leads to serious consequences: local or complete restriction of movements up to disability. Chronic severe back pain must alert the patient. They are present almost always with short intervals of remission. The causes of this condition can be such diseases:

• Osteochondrosis, resulting from dystrophic changes in the tissues of the spinal disc.
• Scoliosis, or in simple words curvature, leads to displacement of the disc and trauma to the nerve endings.

• Spondylolisthesis is the sliding of the upper vertebra into the lower one, which occurs in connection with the deformation of the legs of the vertebra, as a result of which the spine strongly resembles a ladder with protruding steps.
• Ankylosing spondylitis - an inflammatory process in the joints and ligaments, which leads to their low mobility. Mostly the male half suffers. The danger of this ailment is that it constantly develops, gradually capturing each part of the spine, and subsequently passes to the internal organs: heart, kidneys, lungs and others.
• Oncopathology - a neoplasm in the spine can be primary, but in most cases it manifests itself in the form of metastases from nearby organs.

Who is more at risk?

Severe back pain can most often occur:

• in patients after 40 years;
• in the male half of humanity;
• in the presence of a family history;
• in the presence of old injuries;
• during pregnancy;
• after surgery on the spine;
• with congenital malformations of the spine;
• if physical activity is completely absent;
• in people whose work requires prolonged sitting or lifting weights;
• smokers;
• overweight;
• in people with poor posture;
• in patients in a constant stressful situation;
• in people taking steroids for a long time that weaken bone tissue;
• in patients with lung pathologies that lead to chronic cough.

How do the pain feel?

Symptomatology

Many people experience pain in the upper back or lower throughout life. The causes of discomfort are many, many of them a person creates for himself. Others arise due to accidents, sprains, sports injuries, various pathologies. There are many reasons, but the symptoms are the same:

• Persistent pain or stiffness in any part of the spine, from the neck to the tailbone.
• Acute pain in the upper back, lower or cervical region, especially it increases during lifting weights or when performing strenuous activities (discomfort in the upper part can be a sign of a heart attack or other life-threatening situations for the patient).
• Chronic pain syndrome is especially pronounced after a long sitting or standing.

• Discomfort in the lower back with a return to the buttock.
• Inability to stand upright.

There are symptoms that require urgent medical attention:

• if numbness, tingling, or weakness is felt in the limbs, then such a condition can indicate damage to the spinal cord;
• if the back in the lower back hurts and gives in the leg, which may indicate compression of the spine;
• when the pain syndrome intensifies with coughing, bending forward, this may indicate the presence of an intervertebral hernia;
• discomfort in the back is accompanied by high fever, burning during urination, which may indicate an infection of the genitourinary tract;
• sudden weight loss;
• malfunctions of the intestines and bladder;
• long-term use of steroids;
• pain during night sleep;
• lack of effect of therapy.

If at least one of the described symptoms is observed in the patient, then you need to urgently consult a doctor, because the consequences of inaction can be much more serious than it seems.

Danger of back and lower back pain

Often patients do not seek to visit a specialist when they feel pain. If we talk about whether it is worth urgently contacting a doctor, if the back hurts in the lower back, then in most cases this symptom does not indicate serious consequences. Such discomfort can talk about excessive physical exertion, you just need to relax well, and everything will pass by itself. But if relief did not happen in the near future, and the pain syndrome began to increase, this could already become a sign of the development of a serious illness. But in this case, inaction can even lead to death.

The following symptoms should cause alarm:

• Constant sharp pain in the back, manifested in only one specific place.
• Pain syndrome that occurs at night, and does not subside even if the patient is lying down.
• Pain in the back, accompanied by fever.
• Pain in the back, right side, accompanied by partial numbness of the limbs, impaired motor function, muscle spasm of the arms or legs, stiffness in the morning.

Diagnostic methods

Pain in the lower back or in any other area is not just a symptom, but a sign from the body that requires attention and consultation with a doctor. To make it more convenient for the doctor to make an overall picture and find out how the disease is proceeding, the patient will need to tell:

• What factors provoke the appearance of pain.
• What period of day or night do they occur.
• The duration of the attack.
• How intense is the pain in the back, in the right side or left.
• The time when the first discomfort appeared.

The patient himself can assume what exactly provoked the appearance of discomfort. For example, it can be menstruation, stressful situations, weight lifting and more. In addition, it is carried out:

• general examination of the patient;
• palpation of the place where the pain syndrome is localized;
• blood and urine tests to exclude or, conversely, identify pathological processes;
• X-ray, which allows to identify abnormalities in the structure of the spine, lungs, chest;
• MRI and CT to detect the presence of diseases in the spine and internal organs;

• a complete examination of the bones; to identify pathologies, it is necessary to introduce a contrast agent into the body and in the place where it will accumulate more, there is an inflammatory process;
• consultation of specialists: neurologist, rheumatologist and orthopedist.

After all the results of the examination have been obtained, it is possible to select a treatment that allows not only to remove the symptom, but also the causes of unbearable back pain. Which doctor will choose the therapy depends on what exactly caused the manifestation of the pain syndrome. If these are problems with the joints, then the treatment will be carried out by a rheumatologist, if it is associated with stress, then a neurologist.

Methods for treating back pain

Once it is established which disease causes back pain during movement, treatment should begin to eliminate the identified disease. In most cases, it is additionally recommended to choose drugs that relieve pain. If the patient has chronic pain, then it can cause inconvenience, including after the cure of the main ailment, that is, it becomes an independent pathology that requires special attention.

Medications for back pain

To relieve inflammation, lower the temperature and anesthetize, it is recommended to take analgesics: Paracetamol, Analgin. Also, Diclofenac, Ibuprofen, Naproxen do an excellent job of this task. These drugs can be taken both in tablets and used as injections. Some of them are presented in the form of ointments and gels, which are recommended to be applied to the area where pain is present. In some cases, severe pain syndrome can be stopped by taking narcotic analgesics: Morphine, Promedol, Fentanyl. Most often, such medicines for back pain are prescribed if the patient has a malignant neoplasm.

But you need to remember that prolonged use of analgesics can be addictive, which means that a strong and lasting effect can not be expected. In addition, they can cause inflammation of the lining of the stomach and intestines. Usually the course of admission is not more than 10 days.

It is also recommended to take B vitamins, which are taken for back pain after lifting heaviness, as moderate painkillers, because they are neurotropes, positively affect nerve cells and relieve the inflammatory process.

In addition to pain medications, it is additionally recommended to take muscle relaxants - these are drugs for muscle relaxation. Causes of back pain in the chest area can be muscle diseases, for example, the formation of trigger nodes. Constant muscle tension leads to a decrease in spinal mobility. It is the intake of muscle relaxants that will help relieve tension, it can be Midokalm, Sirdalud, Seduxen.

Locking belt or collar

You can relieve back pain at the waist level with a special belt. It maintains the spine in a steady state, this is especially important for those who have had a back injury or surgery.

For patients with neck injuries, bed rest and wearing a special supporting collar are generally recommended.

Reflex and physiotherapy

A patient with muscle pain in the back can be prescribed:

• Percutaneous electroneurostimulation.
• Acupuncture.
• Electroacupuncture.
• Medicinal electrophoresis.
• Phonophoresis.
• Laser and magnetic therapy.

Surgical intervention

In some cases, surgery may be recommended as a treatment for the patient. Most often these are patients with intervertebral hernia. It is performed for any hernia, as well as in the event that the disk squeezes the back of the brain or the spinal root, the disease is complicated by paresis, and it is not possible to eliminate the disease by conservative methods.

Injections for pain in the back

If the patient cannot withstand the pain, it is so strong that it does not let go even for a moment, then they may be recommended to block it. Therapeutic blockade is the introduction of drugs into the pathological focus. It is much more effective than drug exposure and has a longer duration of action.

Novocainic and lidocaine injections are introduced into the trigger points, which lead to the fact that the back muscles relax, their tone is restored.

All types of blockade are carried out only in the walls of the hospital.

Massage and exercise therapy

These two methods are very effective for back pain, because they help strengthen muscle tissue and stabilize the spine. In some cases, the discomfort subsides or completely disappears. But you need to start massage and physiotherapy exercises after the pain syndrome is completely removed. Otherwise, the patient will only be harmed from such procedures, the disease will worsen, and the pain will become even stronger. Physiotherapy exercises need to start with minimal stress. In the first lesson with a specialist, the patient almost does not make any movements, but simply rests on a flat and hard surface.

In the future, at each lesson, the load will increase. Lying on his back, the patient will begin to lift his legs up, and after that he will go on to train on special gymnastic devices and only under the supervision of a specialist who can adjust his movements so that the patient does not harm himself. If the pain intensifies during exercise, then they urgently need to be stopped.

Additional techniques

Acupuncture has long been proven effective in the treatment of many diseases, pain in the back is no exception. Today, this method has become more modern. Together with the mechanical action of needles at certain points on the body, the doctor uses drugs and biologically active substances, they are irradiated with a laser, and they are affected by a magnetic field.

During manual therapy, manual exposure to certain points is carried out by the hands of a doctor - manual therapist. At this time, the doctor can eliminate the displacement of the vertebrae, release all pinched nerve endings, after which the pain disappears. Osteopathy is another method in which a specialist works with his hands. The methods are more specific, they have almost no contraindications and can be used even during exacerbation of pain.

Vacuum therapy is the well-known banks that our ancestors loved to use to eliminate inflammatory processes. Only today they are presented in a more modern form. Under each jar, rarefied pressure is created, due to which blood rushes to the problem areas and all metabolic processes intensify in them. Cans can easily be interchanged by canning - vacuum massage.

Traditional medicine for pain in the back

Traditional medicine recipes have long been proven effective in treating many diseases. Back pain in women or men is no exception. There are many recipes, but there are several that have helped many patients cope with unbearable pain:

1. Treatment with oil and pepper tincture. This method involves rubbing fir oil, and tinctures of burning red pepper at the site of pain. Tinctures can be purchased at any pharmacy. First, in the place of localization of pain, you need to rub the tincture of red pepper, and then fir oil. The procedure is carried out daily without exception for a month.
2. Clay is another excellent and also inexpensive remedy. It must be taken 1 tbsp. l every morning on an empty stomach. The course of treatment is at least 2 months. You can buy clay at a pharmacy, the main thing is to buy one that contains no impurities.
3. Kuznetsov's applicator is an excellent tool that every third person today knows about. With it, you can very quickly get rid of pain that is localized in any part of the back. It can be purchased at any pharmacy, and if you can’t find it, you can easily do it yourself.You will need beer bottle caps. They are laid out on the floor with the sharp side to the top and lie on them. The effect is the same as from the pharmacy applicator.
4. Sheep's wool will help get rid of pain. She needs to be tied on her back. You can wear it at least all day under clothes.
5. Wax helps to stretch all the pain. To do this, you need to take an ordinary candle, which is sold in any store. Warm it up and put it in the place where the pain is localized, wrap it over tightly with a warm scarf. This method was used a hundred years ago, when there was no choice in medicine, but there was a need to remove the pain syndrome. It is heat that helps to stretch the pain. Therefore, it is better to wrap yourself with a woolen scarf, then the back will warm up better.

All folk methods give good results, but not in all cases, therefore, before using them, it is better to consult a doctor so as not to harm your health. Indeed, in some cases, especially when the body is undergoing an inflammatory process, heating is strictly prohibited.