Lumbar back pain

Back pain in the lumbar region the need to consult a doctor

Discomfort in this area is familiar to almost everyone. People experience it at a young age and by the age of 30-40 back pain becomes commonplace.

However, only a specialist can determine why the lower back can hurt so much that it is impossible to straighten, even lying down hurts, and the pain spreads to the lower back after each movement.

Many reasons can cause severe pain in the lower back

Causes

People want to find out why and why the lower back hurts so much when sitting or standing, with any movement the spine behind the back gives off pain, so that it cannot straighten after sitting in a chair, and what what to do with these symptoms, how and what to treat, which have caused you to feel unwell. It is impossible to answer these questions unequivocally and without thorough research, because the root causes can be many.

Spinal diseases

When a person complains "I can't sit and it hurts to walk", the lower back hurts when getting up or sitting on a chair, often cannot walk or stand for a long time, it is impossible to relax in sitting position for a month, the cause of this is diseases of the spine.

Furthermore, pathologies can be both congenital and acquired due to an incorrect lifestyle, a predisposition or injuries.

Common causes of pain in spinal diseases:

  • Congenital anomalies.
  • Poor blood circulation in the spinal cord.
  • Degenerative changes.
  • Damage to secondary nerves that develops against the background of changes in the position of the bones of the spine.

Deformation

Before deciding how to quickly and effectively treat back pain, you need to understand why, when you get up from a sitting position, your back hurts so much that it is difficult to straighten. Acquired or congenital deformities of the bones of the spine are often to blame.

Low back pain due to spinal deformities such as scoliosis

Curvature occurs throughout life. Often a person himself causes changes in himself, not observing her posture or preferring to sleep in a soft bed. As a result, the load on bones, muscles and ligaments is not distributed physiologically, which causes pain.

People with established diagnoses will experience regular attacks:

  1. Kyphosis.
  2. Scoliosis.
  3. Lordosis.
  4. Flat back syndrome.

In this case, strict compliance with the doctor's recommendations can help. Even if a person is born with such pathologies, today it is possible to stop development and live a full life.

Osteoporosis

Pulling, aching pain radiating to the chest may be the only sign of developed osteoporosis. At the same time, unpleasant sensations are weak and appear irregularly. More often, discomfort is felt after intense physical exertion or when the weather changes.

Osteoporosis is one of the causes of back pain

Although the disease is not congenital, it can develop throughout life as a secondary disease after a variety of negative influences, including intoxication and improper use of medications.

A pathological fracture is considered dangerous. It is accompanied by more severe pain than usual. At the same time, since no injury as such has occurred and does not interfere with movement, it often goes undiagnosed. Which after some time can lead to further complications.

The question of how to quickly cure low back pain is relevant for people with osteoporosis, because in their case unpleasant attacks can be easily and quickly stopped.

Injuries

When I think about why, when I sit or stand for a long time, the lower back in the spine area, often under the lower back, constantly hurts, try to remember whether you hit this point.

Even a small bump or fall can cause serious injuries that may not be easily detectable at first glance.The most common causes of traumatic back pain:

  • Contusion of the spine.You can easily get it by falling unsuccessfully or colliding with your back. It manifests itself with mild pain, sometimes with the formation of swelling or bruising at the point of impact. Most often it does not require special treatment. However, in more severe cases it can cause neurological symptoms.
  • Compression fracture.Most often it occurs with a sharp forced bending of the torso. It later manifests itself as severe pain during movement. Sharp processes of the vertebrae can be felt locally.
  • Vertebral subluxationit manifests itself not only with pain and swelling, but also with frequent numbness at the site of the injury. The lower limbs also gradually begin to become numb.
Various back injuries cause pain in the lower back

It is extremely important to pay close attention to bumps and falls in the spinal area. Due to mild pain, it is easy to miss serious damage, which will later lead to greater restrictions in life.



Infections

The cause of chronic burning and severe pain that constantly aches, stabs, grabs and does not disappear in the lumbar area and lower back can be infections.

There are pathologies that affect the spine. Without treatment, these diseases will quickly turn a person into a disabled person. Spread of infection:

  1. Osteomyelitisit can be introduced into the body through injury, during surgery, or through contact with another infected person. The infection causes sharp, severe pain that occurs with any sudden movement. In this case, the chronic course of the infection is characterized by attenuated painful manifestations. Additionally, the person suffers from intoxication, chills and fever.
  2. Epidural abscessleads to severe pain, combined with chills and severe muscle tension.
  3. Tuberculosis of the spineit develops slowly but inevitably. Initially it manifests itself only as periodic pain after physical exertion and stiffness of gait. As bones deteriorate, pain increases and the ability to move fully decreases.

Local inflammation

Low back pain caused by local inflammation

In addition to constantly spreading unpleasant sensations, sometimes people feel shooting pains in the lower back, lower back, when sitting, what it could be and what it is called is determined by a specialist based on the results of examinations and tests . The cause is local inflammation.

Boils, carbuncles and paranephritis are easy to recognize. The first two phenomena are nodules on the skin that react painfully to touch. In the case of paranephritis, fever appears first, and on days 2-3 severe pain develops that prevents full movement and walking. The condition is considered serious and requires hospitalization.

Infectious diseases

Sometimes the explanation of why the lower back can hurt, it constantly gets into it, grabs you when you stand for a long time, and sometimes the back starts to hurt as if it will soon fall, and the decision about what to do and what to treat can be infectious diseases.

Doctors note infectious diseases as the cause of back pain

Increased temperature, intoxication, the need to look for a more comfortable position, pain in muscles and joints - these are signs of an infected person. It often occurs in severe cases of ARVI or influenza.

Similar symptoms may also indicate an infection:

  • Ebola fever.
  • Human-type foot-and-mouth disease.
  • Serious course of the coronavirus.
  • Generalized forms of viral or fungal infections.

If such signs appear, you should immediately consult a doctor, as the condition can worsen within a few hours.

Muscle damage

When you understand why the lower back hurts and pulls, why it grabs the back in the spine area, why when you sneeze it radiates to the back, which began to hurt much more often, you must first establish the cause decide what to do.

In addition to problems directly with the spine, muscle damage can also hinder a person. This problem is often encountered by professional athletes, people who do a lot of strength training or who do physical work. After excessive tension for several days, painful sensations occur in the lumbar muscles, which disappear under the influence of medications, warming ointments and massage.Lower back pain due to strained back muscles


However, there are also chronic changes in muscle tissue, which often occur against the background of serious diseases and are their consequence. If they are detected, complex therapy is performed, sometimes even surgery is required.


Types of pain

To understand what helps with back pain and how to get rid of it, you need to pay attention to the characteristics of the symptom.

If the unpleasant sensations appeared suddenly and recently, the phase is called acute, and if you suffer for more than 3 months it is called chronic.

Depending on the intensity and variety of sensations, they are distinguished:

  • Mechanical.It occurs after strenuous physical activity, often in the afternoon, along with a feeling of tiredness. It is easily cured with rest. Most often this is the result of degradation of the bone structures of the spine or its severe curvature.
  • Inflammatory.It intensifies after rest, a period of immobility. After some time, it weakens due to constant movement or taking anti-inflammatory painkillers.
  • Local.The result of direct damage to muscles, joints or ligaments. It focuses directly on the damaged spot.
  • Koreshkovaya.It appears when nerves are pinched due to injury, tumor, or hernia. Simultaneously with the appearance of pain, the sensitivity of the lesion site decreases.
  • Reflex.The most dangerous type because it deceives people. The patient thinks that he has back pain, but in reality these are reflex sensations that arise due to a disease of the internal organs.
  • Myofascial.A protective mechanism, as it appears due to muscle spasm when bones are damaged.

Depending on the description of sensations, the doctor will be able to understand in the first minutes what kind of disease the person who contacts him has.

Which doctor should I contact?

If you suffer from back pain, you should consult a general practitioner or neurologist.

As soon as there is an unpleasant shooting in the lower back, constant pain or discomfort, the question arises of consulting a doctor.

Since this part of the body is specific because there is not only the spine and muscles, but also a large number of internal organs, which can also cause discomfort if the disease develops, it is highly not recommended to treat it at home. Due to the inability to determine the source of the pain, the situation can worsen.

Initially, with such symptoms it is better to consult a general practitioner. Based on the symptoms that appear, the characteristics of the pain and the location of the lesion, you will be able to decide which specialist should deal with the problem.You may be indicated:

  1. Neurologist.
  2. To the surgeon.
  3. Urologist or gynecologist.
  4. Nephrologist.

After the examination, the necessary tests will be prescribed to determine the exact cause of the discomfort.

By deciding to independently contact a specialist without first consulting a therapist, you risk making an inaccurate diagnosis and wasting precious time.

Diagnostics

A CT scan or MRI will help doctors determine the cause of your lower back pain

Very often patients turn to the doctor when hellish pain appears in the back, so strong that it hurts to get up and walk, without even straightening up, why it hurts in the middle or lower back, what can disturb you in the spine, what causes the condition and what to do, what treatment for low back pain.

Diagnostics:

  • Patient interviewcollection of data on the signs and time of development of the disease. It is also important to find out your medical history and identify chronic diseases that can influence the development of attacks.
  • Neurological examination.The doctor checks whether reflexes are preserved, how much muscle strength and reaction speed are affected, and how much movement is limited. In addition, the degree of superficial and deep sensitivity is examined.
  • X-ray of the affected area of the back.The image will show the injuries received, a pathological decrease in the intervertebral space, curvature and the onset of degenerative processes. New growths are also detected.
  • CT or MRIused to clarify the data obtained. They help determine the location of even small hernias or processes on the spine, help to understand where the pinched nerves are located and why this happened.
  • Functional studiesthey are aimed at determining the condition of the muscles and the degree of damage to the nervous tissue, the speed of passage of the nerve impulse.
  • Lab test.Blood sampling is necessary to determine whether the inflammation is infectious in nature.

Also, depending on the indications, an x-ray of the internal organs located near the painful area may be prescribed. This is done to prevent exacerbation of chronic diseases of the kidneys, gastrointestinal tract or genitourinary system.

Treatment

It is extremely important to correctly provide first aid to the patient and transport him to a medical facility without further injury. If an attack occurs, place the person on something hard or lighten the load on their back, then take them to the hospital.

How and with what to treat the back and what to do when the back in the middle of the spine is very severe and constantly hurts in the lumbar region, in the lower back, the doctor decides only after finding out the reasons why this happened, treatment in this case is prescribed both conservatively and in the form of surgery.

Before the examination it is not recommended to use drugs to suppress symptomatic pain, only a single dose of analgesics is allowed.

After examination and diagnostic measures, the doctor will prescribe adequate treatment, which is complex for back diseases.Therapy includes:

  1. Taking medications.
  2. Physiotherapy.
  3. Use of external medications.
  4. Lifestyle changes.

In difficult cases, surgery is also performed.

Different types of medications are used to treat back pain:

  • NSAIDs are painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs.At the first visit it can be administered by injection, in the future doctors recommend a combination of tablets and ointments with a similar effect.
  • Local anaestheticsused to create a block in cases where the pain becomes unbearable.
  • B vitaminsimprove the effect of other drugs, stimulate better blood supply to the affected area of the back.
  • Physiotherapycarried out after relief of acute pain. As soon as the attack ends, a special therapy is selected that has a positive effect on the condition of the spine. Additionally, a set of physiotherapy exercises is prescribed.
Intervertebral hernia in the lumbar spine is a reason for undergoing surgery

Surgical intervention is an undesirable option for the development of the situation. Since the spine is one of the most complex organs in the human body. There are many points near it that affect the functioning of the body, so doctors try to perform surgery as little as possible. However, there are hopeless situations in which it is impossible to restore health without a surgeon's scalpel.

Surgery is required:

  • In case of tumor formation.They are removed regardless of their benign or malignant nature, since a gradual increase leads to severe pain and can provoke the onset of paralysis.
  • Intervertebral hernias,gradually destroying the space around them. They are the culprits of constant and never-ending pain.
  • Narrowing of the intervertebral canal.
  • Instability of the spinal elements,serious injuries that require further fixation of the bones in their place.

After a course of treatment or surgery, the patient must be prepared for the fact that there is still a lot to do to finally say goodbye to pain.

Rehabilitation

Therapeutic exercise is one of the components of rehabilitation for low back pain

Depending on the reasons why the spine hurts in the lumbar region and the intensity of the pain, treatment is prescribed. However, taking a course of medications and possibly surgery is not all it takes to return to a full, healthy life.

More often, additional rehabilitation includes physiotherapeutic procedures.Frequent appointments:

  1. Massage.It is also not recommended to choose this procedure yourself.
  2. Physiotherapy course,which is carried out under the supervision of an experienced trainer who knows at what speed and intensity the exercises should be performed. It is also possible to use specialized simulators.
  3. Manual therapy.
  4. Acupuncture.
  5. Physiotherapy,aimed at the additional use of painkillers: electrophoresis, magnetotherapy, laser treatment.

When deciding how to treat severe, acute or aching back pain in the lumbar region, the doctor determines what to do if the spine constantly hurts and hurts, the muscles are seized and stiff, depending on the reasons, additional treatment is prescribed . In which a course of restorative procedures that will help improve well-being and return to a healthy state is also prescribed in detail. Patients should be prepared for the fact that the rehabilitation period can last more than a month if the nerve endings or vertebrae are severely damaged.

Consequences

The consequence of ignoring lower back pain can be a herniated disc.

If, turning to friends with a complaint: "If the lower back suddenly hurts for no reason, the back falls, then what to do in such a situation? "in response you only hear the suggestion to take a painkiller, do not hesitate to follow this advice.

The main consequences of untreated spinal diseases:

  • Greater spread of painintensification of attacks due to the fact that healthier tissues will suffer from a gradually expanding problem area.
  • A sharp deterioration in the functioning of the cardiovascular system.And problems in this area can lead to the development of chronic diseases of any organ, including deterioration of brain function.
  • In the worst cases it is possibletemporary or permanent paralysis of the limbs.

In addition, self-medication without preliminary diagnosis or medical prescription can lead to a deterioration of well-being. And subsequently, the course of treatment and recovery will become long and complex.

Prevention

Physical activity can help prevent back pain

The main medical direction that helps maintain health and avoid unpleasant days when you will be deprived of the opportunity to live a full life is prevention. It will help avoid inflammation or the occurrence of many diseases of the lower back.

It is necessary to respect several rules and tips:

  1. Choose a medium-firm mattress for the bedroom.
  2. If you move little during the day, but sit at the computer a lot, take a break of a few minutes every hour to do a brief warm-up of the lumbar spine.
  3. Give up bad habits.
  4. Try not to make sudden and reckless body movements.
  5. Train regularly. Even a small 15-minute exercise in the morning already has a positive effect on the condition of the spine. After age 30, it's best to find a hobby that allows you to get the physical activity you need, with a low chance of injury. Consider doing yoga or swimming in the pool to stay fit.
  6. Check your posture.
  7. Avoid severe hypothermia in the lower back.
  8. Treat detected diseases in a timely manner.
  9. Undergo regular preventive check-ups.
  10. If you experience back pain, contact the clinic immediately for advice.

Painful sensations in the spine are one of the most unpleasant. In addition to direct pain, they also bring with them stiffness in movement, which prevents them from living a full and normal life.

The sooner professional treatment for back problems begins, the sooner a person will be able to return to a full life. And neglecting your health in this case can lead to disability.