Learn About Back Pain

In the United States, back pain is one of the most most common neurological ailment, second only to headaches.

Most of the time back pain is caused by a minor fall or lifting a heavy object. What you suffer is actually a muscle pull or ligament strain. These types of injuries cause pain that lasts only a few days.

Sometimes you can find pain relief with the use of anti inflammatory medicines like, ibuprofen. The next best thing to do for the pain is rest and ice. This should improve the pain and give relief over the next 5 to 7 days. Believe it or not, back pain just doesn't happen to adults. There are studies that have shown that 10 to 40% of middle and high school students do experience some form of lower back pain.

Muscle fatigue and low back pain can often be very debilitating, insidious with its gradual onset or even arbitrary when a sudden occurrence happens and there is no obvious precipitating event. The back is a very complex anatomical structure so it is difficult to diagnose. The back is made up of bone, ligaments, muscle, tendons and a major network of neurological components.

Back pain is widespread in all countries. Even with this widespread problem, the knowledge and the medical advances we have on back pain, we are uncertain as to many of the causes of lower back pain. Low back pain and muscle fatigue are not diagnosis but a symptom of an underlying problem. In fact, there may be other organs causing the back pain. It is amazing that more than three quarters of all Americans suffer from back pain at some point in their lives. Back pain for those under 45 years old is one of the main causes for disability.

Back pain is very common and can be classified into three different categories, based on the length of the symptoms:

Acute back pain - this is a pain that will last anywhere from present to 6 weeks or less. Subacute back pain - is defined as pain for 6 to 12 weeks in duration. Chronic back pain - last longer than 12 weeks.

Common causes for back pain are:
Nerve impingement problems (pinched nerve) herniated disc problems (slipped disc or ruptured disc) spinal degeneration osteoarthritis muscular problems sciatic back pain

In cases regarding the nerve roots or details of the discs in your back such as, isthmic spondylolisthesis, herniated discs, degenerative disc disease, or spinal stenosis, MRI scans have become very useful and the preferred modality for looking for the cause of back pain. MRI scans are normally taken after x-rays have been taken and are painless. MRI scans provide information that can help rule out spinal infections or tumors as the cause of back pain.

Back spasms are often treated with medications known as muscle relaxants. You should not take these types of drugs for long periods of time because they often are known to cloud the mind. The drugs are also known to be controversial because they are known to have side effects such as: dependency to the drugs and they can make you sedated.

You can relax the back spasm by treating the muscles with a tens unit, gentle stretching, heat, massage and other types of back pain therapy. These types of treatment are good at helping relax the muscles causing the back pain. Pulled muscles are sometimes the cause of muscle imbalances and chronic back pain. For the length of this imbalance, so the pain can continue.

Also Read  Keep back pain at bay


Author :
STEVE MADIGAN