For work or hobbies, do you sit a lot or exercise a lot at the gym? Everything was fine before, but now he has frequent back and lumbar pain. So maybe you should see a doctor for help? What Causes Back Pain? What doctor should I see and how to treat a sore? We will talk about this and much more later in the article.
What Causes Pain?
So, "What to do if your back hurts and what can cause it? ", Let's take a closer look at this question. There may be more than enough reasons. The fact is that back and lumbar pain can indicate a number of diseases, both of the spine and internal organs. This is due to the fact that many nerve endings that surround all internal organs come out of the spine. Therefore, according to the location of the pain in a particular area of the ridge, we can speak of some specific diseases.
Causes of occurrence
What do low back pain say and which doctor should I contact them with? Both habits and illness can cause lower back pain. The first are:
- Permanent sedentary work. IT workers and drivers are at risk.
- Constant footwork.
- Great frequent physical activity. Athletes, especially weightlifters, are at risk.
- Sedentary lifestyle.
- A separate risk group includes pregnant women and women who have recently given birth.
- Over weight.
As you can see, everything is simple with habits. As for the second case, often pain in the lumbar region can be caused by diseases. Here you can also highlight diseases of the spine and diseases in which pain in the lumbar region is only a symptom. The former include osteochondrosis, spondyloarthrosis, intervertebral hernia, and protrusion.
The second group contains the following possible causes of back pain:
- Trauma ridge fracture.
- A fracture caused by osteoporosis.
- A tumor located in the spinal canal.
- Prolonged muscle strain.
- The narrow structure of the spinal canal (quite rare).
- Various complications during pregnancy.
- Various arthritis such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis.
- Spinal deformities, eg kyphosis, scoliosis, Scheuermann-Mau disease, kyphoscoliosis.
- Spinal tuberculosis, osteomyelitis, discitis.
- Urolithiasis, pyelonephritis.
- Ovarian cancer, endometriosis, ovarian cyst.
When should you see a doctor?
Mild pain in the back, which passes quickly and is the result of prolonged exertion, is the norm. But if the lower back hurts for a fairly long period or the pain is periodic, then it arises on its own, then disappears, then it is worth sounding the alarm. You should also go to the hospital immediately after a serious back injury. It should be understood that low back pain can be accompanied by pain in the foot or lower leg. Also, part of the leg or buttocks may go numb. In this case, you have something serious and should be examined as soon as possible.
It is unlikely that you will diagnose yourself, so you have to go to the hospital, but which doctor should you go to? Someone will tell a chiropractor and someone will tell you that a neurologist has more experience. Both options are correct, however, it will be more correct to go to a neurologist, because it is he who will be able to correctly prescribe and carry out the entire course of diagnosing the disease. And in this case, the cause will be more precisely identified and there is a possibility of successfully tackling it. So, from the point of view of a neurologist, with pain in the lower back, depending on the intensity and strength of the pain, you can roughly determine the cause of its occurrence.
Sharp pains
Acute low back pain in men and women is the result of a recent injury (fall, muscle strain, shock, sudden movements). Also, the reason may be prolonged work in an awkward position or prolonged transportation and heavy lifting. And finally, don't forget about a back cold, hypothermia or prolonged exposure to a draft. Here you can easily treat low back pain with home remedies.
Lumbago and displacement of the intervertebral discs can be distinguished separately from the common ones. The first ailment is suffered by people whose field of activity involves constant and hard physical work, which is why the lower back hurts in men. According to people, the disease is called "lumbago". It usually stops on its own with rest or after a few days. However, it can easily take up to a month, thus requiring at least one home treatment for back pain.
Acute and severe lower back pain in the lower back also manifests when the intervertebral discs are displaced. The disease can be caused by various injuries, hard physical work, or a disease such as osteochondrosis. You will not be able to undergo medical treatment at home. Hospitalization and full diagnosis are required. It can even go to surgery.
Severe pain
Severe pain differs from acute pain in that it is of a more prolonged nature and is the result of some type of disease associated with the musculoskeletal system. These include sciatica and osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine. With them, waist pain in the lower back is felt when sneezing, coughing, sitting, walking, in a word, the back hurts during any movement. Also, the lower extremities can be sore and may even become numb. Here it is no longer necessary to run, but to fly to the attending physician for an examination.
Pain
As a general rule, the back can ache due to strong acute tension of the spinal muscles. You can ease low back pain by simply resting for a couple of hours. But you should not fly in the clouds, you should be alert, because your back may hurt due to severe hypothermia. Thus, a more chronic disease of myositis may develop, in which the psoas muscles become inflamed. In this case, several days of rest are required, in addition to knowing how to remove the pain.
Chronic
Often caused by deforming spondylosis. The main symptoms of this disease are lower back pain that radiates to the buttocks or legs. Numbness of the lower extremities can also occur. Other diseases that cause similar symptoms include: cancer, altered metabolism, ankylosing spondylitis.
Displaced
Such painful sensations are not the result of a disease of the back, but the result of a disease of some organ that enters the dorsal region. This includes diseases of the pelvic organs of the male and female halves, as well as diseases of the colon, kidneys, pancreas, and various types of tumors.
How is the treatment carried out?
So how do you get rid of low back pain? First, you need to go to the hospital and make an appointment with a specialist for an exam. After the examination, the treating physician should send you for an examination to confirm or deny the suspected diagnosis. To find out what it might be, you may be sent for an X-ray of your spine. Today, a more advanced method, called myelography, is used.
This method allows you to examine in detail the pathways that lead to the spinal cord. It reveals all the pathologies in the presence of a decrease in the permeability of the pathways. It is worth knowing that before the X-ray, a syringe with a substance of xenon will be injected into your spinal cord, which will highlight everything in the image. This method is quite expensive, but very effective and almost always helps you figure out why your back hurts. Additionally, MRI, ultrasound, ECG, and CT may be prescribed. In additional cases, other tests may be required, such as a complete blood count, etc.
Medicine
In most cases, medications are great for back pain. It aims to relieve pain, eliminate and further prevent inflammatory processes, improve blood circulation and renew damaged tissues. Therefore, once we have learned why lower back hurts, we can have a general idea of how to treat low back pain.
Conventionally, the entire treatment can be divided into 3 stages, namely: the start of the treatment, the treatment itself, and the end of the therapy. At each stage, the drugs can act as droppers, as well as in the form of locks and injections. Treatment of low back pain in the first stage should eliminate the pain itself, reduce swelling and inflammation, relieve spasms, and relax the muscles. In the second stage, you need to completely get rid of the cause of the disease. Here, the treatment is mainly carried out at the local level. Ointments, mixtures for compresses are used. In addition, physiotherapy is recommended.
The third stage consists of injections, which increase the regeneration of damaged tissues and nourish them with all the necessary components. Therefore, the full functionality of the segment is restored. At all stages, the choice of medication and therapy depends on your diagnosis and the choice of the treating physician. Self-medication is strongly discouraged.
Physiotherapy
When the cause of pain is precisely identified, treatment can be resorted to using physiotherapy methods. Based on their reasons, the following treatment methods can be distinguished:
- Ultrasound.
- Laser therapy.
- Exposure to electric current, etc.
Physical therapy focuses more on how to treat back pain in the early stages. In the later stages of the disease, it may be recommended as an auxiliary method of treatment. The therapy you need is prescribed only by the attending physician after the examination.
Surgical intervention
In the vast majority of cases, back pain will not require surgery. However, if you have had pain for a long time and over time they only get worse, and you flatly refuse to consult a doctor, this method of treatment is also possible. In this case, general anesthesia, where a lytic mixture is used, will most likely be used to completely immobilize the patient. The surgeon will develop the actual operating plan based on the diagnostic data.
Popular methods
To the question "How to relieve low back pain? " Traditional medicine can also answer. Here, depending on how strong the pain symptoms are, various ointments, lotions, etc. can be used. Homemade The main purpose of these remedies is to relieve pain and inflammation. In most cases, treating the lower back with folk remedies is justified only as first aid. With prolonged self-medication, without knowing the main cause of pain, the disease can be greatly aggravated. Here are some home remedies.
- A compress of grated horseradish and radish mixed with sour cream is placed on the sore area of the lower back. From above, all this is covered with a paper napkin, and the entire lower back is tied with a scarf. Such a compress perfectly eliminates pain symptoms and eliminates muscle spasms.
- When your back hurts, warm compresses from an infusion prepared with a mixture of medicinal wounds will help. This includes thyme, chamomile, St. John's wort, and black elderberry. The compress is applied at night. The affected area is wrapped in a warm cloth. It is advisable to perform the treatment at night. An identical compress is prepared from an infusion of dried burdock leaves.
- Another home remedy treatment is based on the healing properties of horse chestnut. First you need to grind the chestnut into powder. Then it is mixed with camphor oil and melted butter. The ingredients are administered in roughly the same amount. The resulting ointment is spread on a slice of black bread and applied to the sore back as a compress. Such a remedy can improve blood circulation, has nutritional and anti-inflammatory properties.
But remember, no matter how well the folk remedy is displayed, it is still necessary to consult a doctor. After all, self-medication is always carried out at your own risk and risk. Also, it may turn out that the treatment procedures only provide short-term relief, after which the pain will sometimes intensify.
Prophylaxis
When the back hurts in the lumbar region, it is too late to participate in prevention. But in order not to face such a problem for as long as possible, you need to think about how to prevent it and what leads to it. It has already been described above that people who lead a sedentary or sedentary lifestyle, athletes, especially weightlifters, and overweight people are at risk.
Consequently, the best prevention of the disease will be mandatory morning exercises, sports, therapeutic exercises, reduction of the load on the back, massages, nutritional control, etc. In addition, to eliminate what may cause low back pain, regular scheduled check-ups will be carried out with the assistant. the doctor will help you.
First aid
What to do if the lower back hurts a lot and it is far to get to the hospital? How to quickly relieve back pain to wait for the doctor? To do this, you need to know some first aid methods. Of course, they will not have a healing effect, but they will help to cope with the pain. So, we do everything in stages:
- We lie on our backs, on a hard bed or on the floor. The blanket should be removed from the bed.
- At the same time, the legs are raised and the knees are bent. For added comfort, place a pillow or rolled blanket under the raised legs.
- We take the usual dose of the analgesic or anti-inflammatory that we have.
- We lie down and try not to make sudden movements.
- During the procedure, be sure to call a doctor at home.
- In most cases, you will need rest and bed rest for the next several days. After the doctor visit, call work and notify your supervisor.
- Try to avoid spicy and smoked foods during and after treatment.