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Low back pain: Symptoms and cure

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Having lower back pain is extremely excruciating, both mentally, and physically. Sometimes, it often falls into an endless cycle of unbearable pain and depression. Therefore, if you are having trouble with your back or your spine’s flexibility, these could be the symptoms of severe chronic back pain. With proper treatment and medication low back pain is curable. But, it is important to understand the real cause of the pain for better treatment.

Causes

Lower back pain is a musculoskeletal disorder where a patient experiences persistent pain in his lower back. It is a highly susceptible region to develop external and internal injury. Back pain could be caused due to various reasons depending on the age or over-strain on the back muscles. Understanding the exact location of your pain is crucial to identify the real cause of the back pain. These causes can be –

  1. Spinal degeneration
  2. Scoliosis
  3. Disk spondylolisthesis
  4. Ankylosing spondylitis
  5. Vertebrae fracture
  6. Spinal stenosis
  7. Disk injury
  8. Herniated disc
  9. Over stretching of the joints and ligaments of your lower back

Symptoms

Lower back pain can show numerous symptoms depending on its cause. It could be:

  1. Stiffness around the back muscle
  2. Numbness or dully achy feeling from the back extending to the knee
  3. Squeezed spinal cord
  4. Acute pain while sitting for a long time
  5. Difficulty in moving or stretching your legs
  6. Burning sensation around the joints in the lower back

These symptoms could be either, chronic, acute or recurrent based on the level of the pain diagnosed. Although doctors say that most back pain are acute and only lasts for two to three months.

Diagnosing Low back pain

If you experience a series of pain around your lower back, it is advisable to seek a professional; else this pain could disable you. In some cases, it can even lead to permanently disability. Generally, simple diagnosis including examining your past health and working lifestyle is sufficient to monitor the cause of the back pain. However, further testing such as X-rays, CT scans, and MRI could also be done. If any serious injury, like herniated disc, a broken bone or cancer is diagnosed, your physician can plan or consider surgery to treat your skeletal disorder.

Treatment and prevention

To relieve you from your back pain, you will be prescribed certain medications. Many counter pain medicines are recommended such as acetaminophen or anti-inflammatory drug to treat your lower back pain. Surgery is not generally considered in most of the cases. However, there are several surgical procedures that can be planned if any serious problem is diagnosed. It is recommended to have physical therapy to cope with your pain. Regular exercise can help your muscle stabilize and become stronger. Walking and yoga exercises also regulate your blood movement and keep your backbone in shape and place. Most back pains are caused because of the wrong posture, so it is important to improve your body posture and body balance to avoid back pain. You must continue exercising, even after the pain is cured to prevent your back to generate any disorder later in time.

Frequently asked questions:

1. What is Spinal stenosis?
Spinal stenosis is a condition in the spinal cord, resulting from the pressurized spinal nerves, which is caused due to the shrinkage of the spinal cord. Generation of the new bone in the facet joints narrows the spinal canal which later causes spinal stenosis.

2. What is disk spondylolisthesis?
With time, the joints and ligaments in the lower back tend to change its position causing the bones to press against each other. This causes disk spondyloisthesis and severe pain around the back muscles.

3. What exercises should be done to avoid lower back pain?
There are certain exercises that improve stretching capabilities of the patient suffering from lower back pain. Cardiovascular conditioning is an important exercise that promotes muscular strength and flexibility. Doing it for 15-30 minutes a day could alleviate your back pain.

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