It is difficult to find an adult who has not felt pain in the lower back at least once, and some of these painful feelings do not leave day and night, disrupting the quality of life and forcing them to swallow all the arm pain pills. Unfortunately, most people who suffer from chronic low back pain, believing that it is impossible to treat such a pathology, do nothing to treat it and do not need it.
How wrong they are! After all, there is an effective treatment for back pain. There is no need to look for well-known doctors and modern clinics. It is enough to be patient, set goals and start daily therapeutic procedures. Of course, this is not a quick process, but the result in the form of the absence of severe back pain will definitely make you happy.
So, let's look at the main causes of back pain and ways to deal with them.
Why does your back hurt?
There is a whole carriage and a small cart that causes pain in the lumbar region. They can be divided into two parts - primary and secondary pain syndromes.
Primary low back pain
Pathological changes with primary lower back pain syndrome primarily develop in many tissues of the spine - these are degenerative-dystrophic disorders that begin in the intervertebral discs, gradually affecting the vertebrae and surrounding soft tissues. Probably everyone knows diseases such as osteochondrosis, spondyloarthritis and spondylosis. These pathologies develop gradually, are accompanied by chronic pain syndrome, and with the development of complications (compression of nerve roots, protrusion or rupture of the intervertebral disc, compression of the spinal cord) develop acute pain attack, which requires urgent medical attention. .
Degenerative-dystrophic changes in the spine and their consequences are the cause of back pain in more than 90% of cases.
Secondary low back pain
Secondary low back pain can be caused not only by diseases of the musculoskeletal system, but also by pathology of the internal organs:
- congenital or acquired pathology of the musculoskeletal system - pathological curvatures of the spine, straight legs, etc. ;
- rheumatic and systemic diseases (ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, deforming osteoarthritis, reactive arthritis, systemic scleroderma, vasculitis, lupus erythematosus, etc. );
- metabolic pathology and endocrinological diseases in which the normal structure of bone tissue is disturbed - osteoporosis, hyperparathyroidism, osteomalacia;
- malignant and benign neoplastic lesions of the spine and surrounding tissues (myeloma, lymphomas, osteosarcomas, metastatic tumors);
- traumatic damage to spinal tissues (stretching of muscles, ligaments, compression and other vertebral fractures);
- Inflammatory lesions of the lower back muscles - myositis;
- gynecological diseases;
- pathology of the urinary tract (pyelonephritis, urolithiasis, etc. );
- Diseases of the abdominal organs (acute appendicitis, pancreatitis, intestinal lesions).
This article discusses the treatment of primary back pain that often occurs. However, before proceeding with therapeutic measures, it is important to consult a doctor to rule out more serious causes of back pain.
Basic principles of treatment of low back pain
If you are looking for an answer to the question of how to treat low back pain, then the first answer is that the treatment should be comprehensive, single injections and pills will probably not help you. Basically, medications are used to exacerbate the disease, and once the pain is stopped, they begin more active activities, such as therapeutic gymnastics, physiotherapy, massage, hand therapy, traditional medicine, and so on.
Conservative therapy
Drug treatment
If your lower back hurts a lot, you can't do without medication. Several groups of drugs are used to treat low back pain. The main ones are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which also have a strong analgesic effect. These drugs are used both internally (needles, tablets) and topically (plasters, ointments, creams, gels). It should be clarified that although drugs from the group of NSAIDs perfectly eliminate the symptoms of the disease, they do not affect its course, osteochondrosis can not be treated only with anti-inflammatory drugs.
Painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs work well to reduce pain, but they will not eliminate the root cause.
Drug therapy should include muscle relaxants. These drugs relieve pathological spasm of skeletal muscles of the lumbar region (pathogenetic treatment of low back pain), to a large extent relieve pain.
B vitamins are a good helper in the treatment of low back pain caused by compression or inflammation of the roots of the spinal nerve, which strengthens and helps to repair damaged areas of nerve tissue.
Antiplatelet agents, nicotinic acid, are used to build nutrition and metabolic processes in the affected tissues of the spine.
If the pain is severe, local anesthetics are used for regional blockades, which allow the pain to be temporarily relieved while taking steps to eliminate the cause.
Physiotherapy
Exercise therapy is prescribed only after the pain has subsided, and is contraindicated with exacerbation. The key to success is regularity of training. Exercise should be done every day to strengthen your back muscles. Such a complex is ideal if it is selected for you by a certified physiotherapist and teaches you all the intricacies of exercise.
As a last resort, you can learn it yourself (you can find a lot of videos with concrete examples of actions). The main thing to be guided when doing gymnastics is the absence of pain. If the movement causes pain in your back, reduce its amplitude or leave it completely. Doing this at home can help to gradually strengthen the spinal muscles and relieve pain.
Massage
The health benefits of back massage cannot be overestimated. The main thing is to do it correctly and skillfully. And for this you first need to find a good, experienced and certified masseur.
Massage activates circulatory processes in damaged tissues, helps to nourish them and eliminate toxins. Massage, as well as exercise therapy is carried out only outside the exacerbation of the disease.
Physiotherapy procedures
Treatment and prevention of low back pain includes various physiotherapy treatments. All of them are aimed at preventing degenerative processes in the spine and regenerating damaged structures.
Most commonly used in the treatment of low back pain:
- magnetotherapy;
- laser treatment;
- ultrasound therapy;
- electrophoresis;
- heating procedures;
- balneotherapy;
- mud dressings;
- paraffin and ozokerite applications.
Surgery
Operations for lumbar osteochondrosis are performed only in extreme cases, because such manipulations have a very high risk. Surgery should only be performed in patients with an intervertebral hernia that causes persistent pain or in patients with signs of spinal cord compression.
There are many methods of such operations - from open neurosurgery to the removal of the patient's disc to the replacement of the damaged disc with artificial or bioengineered prostheses to endoscopic and robotic interventions.
Non-traditional methods of treatment
Acupuncture
Acupuncture has long been used to treat various ailments. Modern acupuncture is an effective alternative treatment for back pain. In addition, today, the introduction of various biologically active substances instead of the usual acupuncture puncture is complemented by the action of a magnet or laser, which further increases the effectiveness of the technique.
Manual therapy
It is widely used in the treatment of osteochondrosis and its consequences. The bottom line is to move your hand in the spine, build displaced vertebrae, release the nerves without squeezing, and as a result relieve pain. However, it should be noted that these are very dangerous treatments and should only be performed by a certified chiropractor.
Folk recipes
It is possible that the treatment of low back pain with folk remedies is very popular among the population due to its simplicity, naturalness and the availability of substances for recipes, extensive experience in their use and effectiveness. There are many recipes for alternative treatments, consider the most popular.
Horse chestnut ointment is prepared as follows. Powder chestnuts and add oil and camphor oil in equal proportions. You can apply such an ointment or compress twice a day until the pain subsides.
Mix fried radish or horseradish with sour cream or heavy cream and apply to the sore back in the form of a compress. Wrap yourself in a woolen shawl and lie down. Repeat this procedure until the pain subsides.
For the next recipe, you will need dried burdock leaves. Soak them in boiling water and put on their backs, wrap in a warm cloth. Keep the compress for at least 1 hour.
Friction can help with back pain. To do this, you need to prepare the following mixture. Cologne, for example, should be tripled, mix in a glass of iodine solution, valerian tincture and dried red pepper. Then rub the mixture well with the wound and wrap the night with a warm cloth.
Folk recipes relieve back pain well, but their use is allowed only with a doctor's permission.
There are more than a dozen, maybe a hundred prescriptions for traditional medicine. But in any case, before using them, you should consult a doctor - if this particular prescription is contraindicated for you.
If you have back pain and you do not know where to start treating it, first consult a doctor who will determine the true cause of the pain. Only then, with joint efforts (you and your specialist) will you be able to overcome the disease and pain.