Back pain: causes, diagnosis, treatment and prevention

According to statistics, 80% of people know firsthand about back pain. More than a third of all "sick days" exhibited refer to this problem. The reason can be considered to be the weakness of the fragile muscles and their rapid growth. To identify the problem, in addition to visual inspection, hardware diagnostics (X-ray, myography, CTetc. ) Laboratory blood tests are performed, treatment is not prescribed until the diagnosis is established.

Why does my back hurt?

Pain in the spine can occur immediately after injuries, diseases of the vertebrae, ligaments and discs, soft tissue damage. It depends on the position of the body and the level of physical activity, but can also be reflected, for example, in diseases of the internal organs. The back itself is fragile in part because of its structure.

It is based on the spine, which takes on supporting, protective, motor and shock-absorbing functions. This is due to the cartilage of the intervertebral discs, muscles and ligaments, which tend to wear out over time with an improper lifestyle and cause degenerative diseases of the musculoskeletal system.

Inside the spine is the spinal cord, its paired roots innervating almost all organs and tissues. Any disturbance in this complex system can cause pain. More often than others, the cervical and lumbar regions suffer from their greatest strain and mobility.

What to do with back pain

A medical exam is imperative to find out the cause, especially if the pain has become more frequent. Only a specialist can make the correct diagnosis and prescribe treatment. You cannot do self-diagnosis.

First of all, you can turn to a therapist who will identify a number of symptoms and refer you to the right specialist with a narrow profile. Once the cause is known and obvious, the prescribed therapy can be continued. Back problems are treated by neurologists, orthopedists and vertebrologists.

Causes of Back Pain

Back pain is a non-specific symptom that can have various causes.

Physiological (common) causes:

• increased weight;
• recent birth or pregnancy;
• hypodynamic work - in the office, at the computer, driving a car;
• Standing work - hairdressers, waiters and salespeople, street advertisers, surgeons, teachers;
• heavy physical activity combined with sharp body turns;
• Overload in training;
• postmenopausal with a tendency to osteoporosis.

Pathological causes:

• Diseases of the spine (osteochondrosis, spondylosis, ankylosing spondylitis, tumors, arthritis, osteomyelitis, Reiter's syndrome) and the spinal cord;
• Growing pains - scoliosis and kyphosis;
• infectious lesions of the spine;
• Osteoporosis, osteomalacia;
• Diseases of internal organs - kidneys, pancreas, stomach, spleen, liver;
• Atherosclerosis of the abdominal artery.

Acute pain can occur with bulging discs, spondyloarthritis, spinal epiduritis, osteochondrosis, intervertebral hernias, atypical appendicitis and intestinal obstruction, kidney stones, fractures and sprains, spinal cord beats, inflammation of the limbs in men and women, and prostate cancer in women.

Various diseases by the nature of back pain

Causes of aching pain:

• Hypothermia;
• Dislocation;
• Myositis;
• prolonged uncomfortable posture while sleeping or working;
• Lumbago (work becomes the cause);
• Osteochondrosis;
• Herniated or dislocated disc caused by heavy lifting of weights or sharp rotation of the body;
• kidney disease - causes back pain due to the proximity of the kidneys to the lower back;
• Stomach disorders.

Causes of sharp pain:

• Intervertebral hernia - their condition worsens with physical exertion;
• Sciatica - such back pain, on the one hand, occurs quite often, radiates to the thighs or buttocks, causes numbness in the legs, and also depends on physical exertion;
• Osteochondrosis - the patient may experience pulling pains that radiate into the leg and are aggravated by coughing, sneezing, exertion, walking, bending over.

Etiology of throbbing pain:

• Osteochondrosis;
• Intervertebral hernia;
• Lumbago;
• Spondylosis - are acute and cannot be relieved by analgesics.

Bursting back pain:

• Ischemia;
• Heart attack;
• TELA;
• inflammation of the gallbladder;
• a sharp increase in pressure;
• Arteriosclerosis.

Why does my back hurt after sleeping?

Most people often experience back pain in the morning after bed, which can be caused by:

• overload the day before if you lifted weights and moved a lot;
• weak back muscles;
• Hypothermia;
• Hernia of the vertebrae or osteochondrosis;
• Scoliosis - curvature of the spine leads to uneven muscle contraction;
• pregnancy - with it the center of the body shifts;
• Obesity - The load on the spine is also uneven.

Sleep conditions are also important. The bed should not be too hard or too soft - in any case, while sleeping, a person is forced to assume an uncomfortable, unphysiological position, as a result of which the muscles become overworked and do not rest at night. Posture is so important that even an orthopedic mattress won't help. It is recommended to sleep on your back with your legs raised.

The causes of pain after sleep can also be diseases of the spine and internal organs (urological, gastrointestinal tract, including oncological).

Diseases of the joints and spine

All pathologies in which there is back pain have one common basis - the uneven load on the spine. These include:

1. Ankylosing spondylitis - a persistent inflammation of the ligaments and joints that causes chronic cramps in the surrounding muscles. The process is autoimmune, over time the vertebrae begin to grow together, which greatly disrupts the work of the spine.
2. Spondylolisthesis - the vertebrae are in an abnormal position. They are displaced and affect the brain or the roots.
3. Osteochondrosis - intervertebral discs become thinner, cracked, and replaced with bone tissue. A write-off becomes impossible.
4. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune inflammation of the joints. More often affects the cervical spine.
5. Osteomyelitis is inflammation of the bone marrow and surrounding soft tissues. It causes a lot of pain.
6. Reiter's disease is a simultaneous rheumatic lesion of the urogenital tract, the joints and the conjunctiva of the eyes. Small back muscles are affected. More common in young people, it develops gradually. The pain is severe in the morning and subsides in the evening.
7. Stenosis of the spinal canal - the cause may be a herniated disc, protrusion (protrusion into the spinal canal). Most often, the lowest roots of the spinal cord, which innervate the legs, are involved in the process. The pain is felt from the lower back to the foot and increases both when resting and when walking.
8. Facet syndrome is a lesion of the intervertebral joints (facets). The pain can be local or it can spread to the groin, tailbone, or thigh. Physically dependent. The condition worsens in the evening and improves after rest. It's more common in the elderly.

Muscular related disorders

Muscle tissue is affected secondarily against the background of the pathology of the bone tissue or joints. Painful cramps and compression occur in the muscles, mobility is limited:

1. Fibromyalgia is a pain syndrome from the neck to the lower back. There are also neurological symptoms: increased sensitivity when pressing certain points on the back, stiffness and stiffness.
2. Polymyositis - occurs with hypothermia, trauma, sprains, or heavy physical exertion. Muscle weakness occurs where even turning to the side is painful and problematic.
3. Dermatomyositis is a chronic disease of muscles, organs, and skin, often autoimmune in nature.
4. Charcot's disease is inflammation of the peripheral nerves that run along the spine. This leads to gait changes, muscle weakness and increased sensitivity of the nerve roots.
5. Polymyalgia rheumatica is a negativity of the environment in the form of hypothermia, overload, uncomfortable posture, etc. It leads to cramps in individual muscles and the appearance of pain. The so-called trigger points appear, to which the muscle reacts with acute pain. Neurologists know about it. Pain of this type is eliminated with warming ointments and a needle applicator.

Spinal cord disorders

This includes the injury to the spinal cord, which has 31 paired branches, with each nerve responsible for innervating its location. This condition occurs when:

• Trauma (spinal fracture);
• Tumors;
• Osteochondrosis, or herniated disc;
• inflammation as a result of an abscess, hematoma;
• Cerebral hemorrhage;
• Myositis;
• Lack of minerals and vitamins;
• Complications from HIV or neurosyphilis;
• Sclerosis.

Back pain from psychosomatics

In recent years, back pain has manifested itself in psychosomatics. In this case, if there are complaints about back pain, the examination will not reveal the pathology. This condition occurs with chronic stress, depression, lack of libido. The consequences can not only be pain, but also a change in gait, worsening of the lumbago and sensory disorders.

Causes of back pain by location

Pain can occur in many different areas of the back. Then they talk about its location.

Pain in the right side

The right side of the back can hurt from curvature of the spine, kyphosis, lordosis, myositis, displacement of the intervertebral disc, obesity.

Somatic pathologies can also cause pain in this area:

• the formation of stones in the organs of the urinary system;
• Inflammation of the appendix (appendix);
• inflammation of the gallbladder;
• Nephritis;
• Inflammation of the ovaries;
• Salpingitis.

Pain in the left side

This area of the back can hurt if:

• Splenitis;
• ICD;
• Pinching the roots;
• Duodenitis;
• Oophoritis.

Pain localized over the lower back may be associated with inflammation of the serous membranes covering the lungs, bronchial damage, intercostal neuralgia, and ischemia.

Lumbar pain

The lower back often suffers as it is under enormous strain. This section becomes inflamed with damage to the nerve roots, osteochondrosis, or hernia protrusion. Less often, the cause can be tuberculosis of the spine, arthritis, lumbar sciatica, decreased density and damage to the structure of bone tissue, Reiter's syndrome - a combination of urethritis and prostatitis.

Loin pain is usually chronic.

Right in the lumbar region

Lumbar pain occurs with scoliosis, tuberculosis, myositis, neuralgia, tumors, osteomyelitis, spondylitis. An acute attack can be caused by urolithiasis or pyelonephritis.

Lumbago is characteristic of diseases of the lower back with frequent involvement of the roots of the spine (radiculitis). Constant dull and monotonous pain is more characteristic of an organ like the liver.

Left in the lumbar region

Most often, the left side begins to hurt after physical exertion. The condition improves after rest. With diabetes, pain that pinches the root can also occur. If it does not go away in peace, then the reasons can be:

• Scoliosis;
• osteochondrosis (with a sedentary lifestyle or incorrect posture);
• Vertebral infections;
• Circulatory disorders.

Pinched nerve

More often, the sciatic nerve becomes pinched - sciatica. In this case, his myelin sheath is not disturbed. This is usually a result of osteochondrosis. When pinched, there is a sharp and sharp pain that radiates to the leg, sacrum, and lower back.

In compression radiculopathy, the roots of the spinal nerves are also compressed due to a herniated disc or a decrease in height and thus the distance between the vertebral bodies. This pain is felt as "superficial" and is intensified by coughing, exertion or sneezing.

Intervertebral hernia

A hernia is the extrusion of the core of the disc into the spinal canal. More often it is a consequence of untreated osteochondrosis. The central part protrudes towards the spinal cord and compresses it. In such cases, even a low load leads to a decrease in the height of the cartilage and an even larger hernia. The pain is sharp and sharp, with a return to the arm or leg.

In the area of the shoulder blades

A symptom of pain may indicate a diagnosis:

1. Gastric ulcer - increasing dull pain. Eliminated by medication.
2. Intercostal neuralgia - the disease is characterized by acute pain with any physical exertion.
3. Osteochondrosis - dizziness, changes in pressure, numbness of the hands.
4. Exacerbation of angina pectoris - the pain is localized in the area of the left shoulder blade and radiates to the chest and under the collarbone.

Pain along the spine and back

Most often occurs when nerve endings become pinched. Exacerbations are associated with a curvature of the spine. If the pain is not pronounced, we can talk about protrusion. If the pain is increased, you can think of osteochondrosis. Pain along the spine is typical of myositis, fractures, thinning and wear of intervertebral discs, spondyloarthritis. They are always sharp and constant.

Causes of Back Pain

Such pain is more often associated with osteochondrosis and spondyloarthrosis. More rarely, such sensations can occur if:

• Diseases of the genital area in women (endometritis, adnexitis, vulvitis, cervicitis, oophoritis);
• Pregnancy;
• Menses;
• Ulcerative colitis;
• Appendicitis;
• Diseases of the prostate or bladder - in men.

Associated symptoms

The manifestations of spinal pain differ depending on the localization. With the defeat of the cervical spine, migraines and dizziness, weakness and numbness of the hands, pressure surges, flies and lightning bolts in the eyes are noted. When the chest region is involved, there is burning and stiffness in the chest, breathing difficulties, pain in the shoulder blades.

Situations that require urgent medical attention

An urgent visit to the doctor requires back pain, which occurs in the following cases:

• Injury;
• neurological symptoms in the form of tingling and numbness in the limbs;
• temperature is combined with back pain;
• Numbness in hands and feet, weakness and tingling;
• Gait has changed or legs are removed;
• a history of cancer;
• Weight loss for no apparent reason;
• impaired urination and bowel movements - a person cannot control these processes;
• Back pain radiates to the chest, jaw and neck;
• the consciousness is confused and dizzy;
• Numbness in genitals and weakness, "cottoniness" in legs;
• Leg cramps;
• Problems conceiving or having an erection;
• Gastrointestinal problems that treatment by a gastroenterologist will not help;
• Pain in the tailbone, small pelvis, aggravated by a change in body position;
• increased pain when sitting or standing for long periods of time.

Experts will help you find out the cause of the pain.

diagnosis

To identify the cause of back pain, a neurologist will prescribe a comprehensive exam:

1. Blood tests. They help identify the presence of infection and inflammation in the form of leukocytosis and increased ESR. A decrease in hemoglobin indicates anemia, which can have many causes, one of the possible being cancer.
2. MRI. . .Visualizes the condition of all components of the spine. Helps differentiate the type and type of tumor, determine the distance between the vertebrae and the degree of root compression.
3. CT. Identifies fractures, allows the smallest fragments to be found after injuries. All of this is in 3D.
4. Radiography. The cheapest way to diagnose back pain and see the condition of the bone tissue. It is prescribed for suspected fracture, arthritis, scoliosis, osteoporosis, spondyloarthrosis.
5. Electromyography (EMG). Determines the indicators of bioelectric activity of muscles and peripheral nerve endings.
6. Ultrasound of the vessels of the neck and brain. In triplex or duplex mode, it is used to assess the patency of blood flow through the arteries and vessels. Their condition is checked - wall thickness, permeability, etc.

Back pain treatment

There are different treatment methods for back pain. A neurologist will select the optimal treatment for you, taking into account the age, lifestyle, physical mobility, and clinical manifestations of the patient.

In the medical treatment of back pain, NSAIDs, analgesics, muscle relaxants, and group B vitamins are usually used. Physiotherapy, exercise therapy, IRT, massage, spinal traction, muscle relaxation are prescribed along the way.

For back pain, it is advisable to see a doctor for quality treatment.

prophylaxis

Precautions:

• learn to maintain your posture and stand correctly;
• not lazing around;
• While sitting, keep your back straight, place a stand under your feet;
• properly organize the sleeping place;
• do not jump up abruptly after waking up - stretch slowly, do simple exercises with arms and legs;
• Distribute weights in both hands - do not carry everything in one hand, refuse a bag over your shoulder - a backpack is better;
• do not carry the child with the bend of the back in your arms;
• Lifting weights through squats;
• Do not wash the floors without a mop, bend forward or kneel;
• balance your diet with a sufficient amount of minerals and vitamins;
• quit smoking and alcohol;
• do not forget about physical exercises - swimming, Nordic walking, yoga;
• take a contrast shower in the morning;
• protects the liver, produces collagen for the ligaments of the spine and vertebral bodies;
• Strengthening immunity;
• Control weight;
• it is advisable to have manual therapy for 5-10 sessions every 6 months (as recommended by a specialist);
• Avoid stress;
• Do not forget the medical examinations.

If you develop back pain, see a doctor who can help you. Remember that any disease is easier to treat in the early stages.