Do you spend a lot of time sitting or exercising a lot in the gym because of work or hobbies? Everything was fine before, but now you have frequent back and waist pains? Then maybe you should see a doctor for help? What causes back pain? Which doctor should I see and how should I treat my pain? 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 issue. There can be several reasons. The fact is that back and low back pain can indicate a number of diseases, both in the spine and internal organs. This is due to the fact that many nerve endings that surround theall internal organs, leaving the spine. Therefore, according to the localization of pain, we can talk about some specific diseases in a particular area of the spine.
Causes of occurrence
What do lower back pains say and which doctor should I go to? Both habits and illnesses can cause pain in the lower back. The first:
- Permanent sitting. IT workers and drivers are at risk.
- Permanent standing work.
- Frequent high physical activity. Athletes, especially weightlifters, are at risk.
- Sedentary lifestyle.
- Pregnant women and women who have recently given birth are at particular risk.
- Overweight.
As you can see, with habits everything is simple. As for the second case, often the pain in the lumbar region can be caused by diseases. Here you can highlight yourself diseases of the spine as well as diseases in which lumbar pain is just a symptom. The former include osteochondrosis, spondyloarthrosis, intervertebral hernia, and prominence.
The second group causes the following possible back pain:
- Fracture of the spine due to trauma.
- Fracture due to osteoporosis.
- Tumor localized in the spinal cord.
- Prolonged muscle tension.
- Narrow structure of the spinal cord (quite rare).
- Various complications during pregnancy.
- Various arthritis such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis.
- Spinal deformities such as kyphosis, scoliosis, Scheuermann-Mau disease, kyphoscoliosis.
- Spinal tuberculosis, osteomyelitis, discitis.
- Urolithiasis, pyelonephritis.
- Ovarian cancer, endometriosis, ovarian cyst.
When to see a doctor?
Mild pain in the back that goes away quickly and is the result of prolonged effort. But if your lower back hurts for a fairly long time, or the pain is periodic, it arises on its own and then disappears, you might want to be alerted. You should go to the hospital immediately after a serious back injury. It should be understood that low back pain may be accompanied by leg or leg pain. In addition, part of the foot or buttocks may be numb. In this case, something is seriously wrong and should be investigated as soon as possible.
You probably won’t diagnose yourself, so you need 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 is more experienced. Both options are correct, but it will be better to consult a neurologist because he or she will be able to correctly prescribe and conduct the entire course of diagnosing the disease. And in this case, the cause is more accurately identified and you have every chance of successfully coping with it. So, from a neurologist’s perspective, pain in the lower back, based on the intensity and intensity of the pain, can roughly determine the cause of its occurrence.
Sharp pains
Acute low back pain in men and women is the result of recent injury (falling, muscle tension, shock, sudden movements). In addition, the reason may be long-term work in an awkward position or long-term carrying and lifting of heavy objects. And finally, don’t forget about cold back, hypothermia, or prolonged exposure to drafts. Here you can easily treat low back pain with folk remedies.
The displacement of the lumbago and intervertebral discs can be separated from the common ones. The first disease is suffered by people whose field of activity involves constant hard physical work, so the lower part of men hurts. People say the disease is called "lumbago". It usually stops on its own while resting or after a few days. However, this can easily take up to a month, so it requires at least home treatment for back pain.
Severe and severe belt pain in the lower back also manifests as the intervertebral discs move. The disease can be caused by various injuries, hard physical work, or a disease such as osteochondrosis. You will not be able to receive medical treatment at home. Hospital treatment and full diagnosis are required. This can even lead to surgery.
Intense pain
Severe pain differs from acute pain in that it is more prolonged in nature and the consequences of a disease related to some musculoskeletal system. These include osteochondrosis of sciatica and lumbar spine. In them, the belt pain can be felt in the lower back when sneezing, coughing, sitting, walking, in a word, the back hurts during every movement. In addition, there may be pain in the lower extremities and they may even become numb. Here you no longer have to run, but fly to the doctor for examination.
Sore
Usually, the back can hurt from the sharp, strong tension in the spinal muscles. You can relieve your low back pain with a few hours of rest. But you shouldn’t fly in the clouds, you have to be vigilant because your back can hurt due to severe hypothermia. This can lead to a more chronic myositis disease in which the psoas muscles become inflamed. In this case, you need several days of rest and you need to know how to remove the pain.
Chronic
It is often caused by spondylosis deformans. The main symptoms of this disease are low back pain in the lower back that radiates to the buttocks or legs. Numbness of the lower extremities may also occur. Other diseases causing similar symptoms: cancer, impaired metabolism, ankylosing spondylitis.
He moved out
Such painful feelings are not a back disease, but diseases of some organ that enter the dorsal region. These include diseases of both the male and female pelvic organs, as well as colon, kidney, pancreas, and various types of tumors.
How is the treatment done?
So how do you get rid of low back pain? First, go to the hospital and ask an appointment with a specialist for an examination. After the examination, the treating physician should send an examination to confirm or refute the suspected diagnosis. In order to find out what it might be, they can be sent for a x-ray of the spine. Today, a more advanced method called myelography is used.
This method allows a detailed examination of the pathways leading to the spinal cord. It reveals all pathologies in case of decreased path permeability. It’s worth knowing that a xenon syringe is injected into the spinal cord before the x-ray, which highlights everything in the picture. This method is quite expensive but very effective and will almost always help you find out why your back hurts. In addition, MRI, ultrasound, ECG, and CT can be recorded. In other cases, other tests may be needed, such as a complete blood count, etc.
Medicine
In most cases, the drug is excellent for back pain. It aims to relieve pain, eliminate and further prevent inflammatory processes, improve blood circulation and regenerate damaged tissues. So once we find out why the lower back hurts, we can get a general idea of how to treat low back pain.
Traditionally, each treatment can be divided into 3 stages, namely: the beginning of the treatment, the treatment itself and the end of the therapy. Drugs can act as droplets at all stages, as well as in the form of blockages and injections. In the first stage of treating low back pain, you need to eliminate the pain itself, reduce swelling and inflammation, relieve cramps, and relax your muscles. In the second stage, you need to get rid of the cause of the disease completely. Here, the treatment is mostly done locally. Ointments and mixtures are used for compresses. In addition, physiotherapy is recommended.
The third stage consists of injections that enhance the regeneration of the damaged tissues and nourish them with all the necessary ingredients. Thus, the full functionality of the segment is restored. The choice of medications and therapy at each stage depends on the diagnosis and the choice of the treating physician. Self-healing is strongly contraindicated.
Physiotherapy
Once the cause of the pain has been accurately identified, treatment can be used using physiotherapy methods. Based on the reasons, the following treatments can be distinguished:
- Ultrasound.
- Laser therapy.
- Exposure to electric current, etc.
Physiotherapy is more focused on how to treat back pain in the early stages. It can be recommended as an adjunct treatment in later stages of the disease. The necessary therapy is prescribed by the attending physician only after examination.
Surgical intervention
In the vast majority of cases, back pain does not require surgery. However, if it hurts for a long time and only gets worse over time and you firmly refuse to see a doctor, this method of treatment is also possible. In this case, general anesthesia is most likely used, where a lytic mixture is used to completely immobilize the patient. The surgical plan itself is developed by the surgeon based on the diagnostic data.
Folk methods
To the question "How to relieve low back pain? ". traditional medicine may also be the answer. Here, depending on how severe the symptoms of pain, various homemade ointments, creams, etc. In most cases, treating the lower back with folk remedies justifies itself as a first aid. With long-term self-medication, without knowing the main cause of the pain, the disease can get worse greatly. Then some folk remedies.
- A compress of sourdough mixed with sour cream and grated radish is placed on the sore area of the lower back. From above, it’s all covered with a paper napkin and the entire lower back is tied with a scarf. Such a compress perfectly eliminates the symptoms of pain and removes muscle cramps.
- When your back hurts, a hot compress of the infusion mixture of medical injuries will help. These include thyme, chamomile, St. John's wort and black elderberry. The compress is applied at night. The affected area is wrapped in a warm cloth. The treatment should be performed at night. A similar compress is made from the infusion of dried burdock leaves.
- Another folk remedy is based on the healing properties of horse chestnut. The chestnuts must first be ground to a powder. It is then mixed with camphor oil and melted fat. The ingredients are given in roughly equal amounts. The resulting ointment is smeared on a slice of black bread, and as a compress, the aching back is smeared. Such a drug can improve blood circulation, has nutritional and anti-inflammatory properties.
But keep in mind, no matter how well folk remedies show themselves, you still need to see a doctor. After all, self-healing is always carried out at your own responsibility and risk. In addition, treatment procedures may turn out to provide only short-term relief, after which the pain occasionally intensifies.
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 will lead to it? We have described above that people who are sitting or living a sedentary lifestyle, athletes, especially weightlifters, and overweight people are at risk.
Accordingly, the best prevention of the disease is mandatory morning exercises, sports, therapeutic exercises, reduction of back strain, massage, nutritional control, etc. Also, to eliminate the causes of lower back pain, regular check-ups with the participant doctor will help.
First aid
What to do if your lower back hurts a lot and is far from the hospital? How to quickly relieve back pain to wait for a doctor? To do this, you need to know some ways of providing first aid. Of course, they will not have a healing effect, but they will help you cope with the pain. So we do everything intermittently:
- We lie on our backs, on a hard bed or on the floor. The blanket must be removed from the bed.
- At the same time, the legs should be raised and bent to the knees. For added comfort, place a pillow or rolled blanket under your raised legs.
- The usual dose of painkiller or anti-inflammatory is taken.
- We go to bed and try not to make sudden movements.
- Remember to see a doctor at home during the procedure.
- In most cases, you will need rest and bed rest in the coming days. After visiting the doctor, call for work and notify your supervisor.
- Try to avoid spicy and smoked foods during and after treatment.