Back pain

The back is a structure made up of bone, muscles, nerves and other soft tissues. Its function is important for about every move you make. Due to this, the back can be particularly vulnerable to injury and back pain can be disabling. Back pain is one of the most common medical problems, affecting 80 per cent people at some point during their lives. Back pain can range from a dull, constant ache to a sudden, sharp pain. Surgery is rarely needed to treat back pain.

Acute Back Pain
Acute back pain comes on suddenly and usually lasts from a few days to a few weeks. Normally, it goes away on its own, as body mechanics often heal the back within a few days and keep it functional for the long haul. Simple home treatment or taking over-the-counter pain relievers and resting can help. However, staying in bed for more than one or two days can make it worse.

Chronic Back Pain
Back pain is called chronic if it lasts for more than three months. It may also result from a previous injury long since healed, or it may have an ongoing cause, such as nerve damage or arthritis. Chronic back pain is commonly described as deep, aching, dull or burning pain in one area of the back or traveling down the legs. Patients may experience numbness, tingling, burning, or a pins-and-needles type sensation in the legs.

Regular daily activities may prove difficult or impossible for the chronic back pain patient. They may find it difficult or unbearable to work, even when the job does not require manual labor. Chronic back pain tends to last a long time, and is not relieved by standard types of medical management.

Lower back pain
Some doctors have described lower back pain as the most painful condition people could possibly experience in their life. Lower back pain is the second leading cause for a visit to a doctor. It is also the number one reason for a person to miss work. This kind of pain was unimaginably and indescribably torturous to endure.

Lower back pain is often misdiagnosed. There may be a left side disc herniation, but the patient feels pain on the right side and right leg. There may be a ruptured disc, but the condition has already extruded, calcified and stabilized. Disc degeneration may be present, but that is completely normal in 90 per cent of people. These statistics have suggested that much lower back pain comes from a source that is not easy or even possible to diagnose.

Causes of Back Pain
Pain arising from other organs may be felt in the back as a symptom. This is called referred pain. Many intra-abdominal disorders – such as appendicitis, aneurysms, kidney diseases, bladder infections, pelvic infections, and ovarian disorders, among others – can cause pain referred to the back. Your doctor will have this in mind when evaluating your back pain.

Genuine back pain causes are given below:

• Nerve root syndromes are those that produce symptoms of nerve impingement (a nerve is touched), often due to a herniation (or bulging) of the disc between the lower back bones. Sciatica is an example of nerve root impingement.
• Musculoskeletal pain syndromes that produce low back pain include myofascial pain syndromes and fibromyalgia.
• Other skeletal causes of low back pain include osteomyelitis or sacroiliitis (infections of the bones of the spine). This pain is usually worse at night and is worse when sitting or standing for a long time.
• Tumors, possibly cancerous, can be a source of skeletal pain.

Self Treatment at Home

• Sleeping with a pillow between the knees while lying on one side may increase comfort. Some doctors recommend lying on your back with a pillow under your knees.
• No specific back exercises were found that improved pain or increased functional ability in people with acute back pain. Exercise, however, may be useful for people with chronic back pain to help them return to normal activities and work.
• Nonprescription medications may provide relief from pain. Ibuprofen (such as Advil, Nuprin, or Motrin), available over-the-counter, is an excellent medication for the short-term treatment of low back pain. Acetaminophen (such as Tylenol) has been shown to be as effective as ibuprofen in relieving pain.
• Most experts agree that prolonged bed rest is associated with a longer recovery period. But very few experts recommend more than a 48-hour period of decreased activity or bed rest, as you can have other problems.