The back pain

Most of people know very well, what the back pain is, because it caught up each of us at least once in a life. Some even tried to cope with this pain on their own, without visiting the doctor. It is not the right decision, because a wide variety of pathologies can hide under the mask of back pain; and self-medication can only worsen your condition.

Annually the back pain is the most common reason for a visit to the doctor in all countries, giving a way to catarrhal diseases. According to researches, about half of the working-age adult population suffers from back pain, and only 15-20% of them seek medical advice.

The most common cause of back pain is spinal osteochondrosis with impaired function of the intervertebral joints, the intervertebral discs height decrease, and, as a result, the development of protrusions and hernias of different localization with the prolapsed roots. Most often, hernias are formed at the level of L4-L5 and L5-S1, which is associated with the maximum static load on these spinal segments. These changes are often accompanied by the growth of osteophytes (“thorns”), which significantly aggravates the disease development.

Most often, doctors are accustomed to wave aside “osteochondrosis” diagnosis, arguing that “everyone has it” and “it’s an age-old and it cannot be treated.” But we would not advise you to just sit and wait for the progression of this degenerative process. A cervical osteochondrosis can lead to an increased blood pressure, dizziness, impaired vision and hearing, and untreated osteochondrosis of the lumbosacral region will affect the state of the pelvic organs, veins and joints of the lower extremities, except that you will constantly suffer from chronic pain in the spine, head, arms and legs.

Do not forget about the pathology of the muscular and ligamentous apparatus, about the excess weight, weight lifting, wrong posture (scoliosis, kyphosis), long forced postures at the desk, which lead to the chronic muscle pain formation – it is very difficult to get rid of them without the doctor’s help. Here are a few figures. According to biomechanics, in the lying position the intervertebral discs are under 50 kg pressure, in the standing position – 100 kg, in the sitting position with the back straight without support – 150 kg, and sitting hunched up – 220kg. And now calculate how much you sit during a day… And how much of this time you sit slouched round, with your round back…

In addition, the cause of back pain can be various diseases of internal organs (gastrointestinal tract, kidneys). Pain similar to “radiculitis” is possible with renal colic and stomach ulcer. The opposite situation is also possible, for example, the thoracic spine osteochondrosis may manifest itself as pain in the heart region, incorrectly defined as angina pectoris.

In about 0.7% of patients with complaints of back pain, cancer is subsequently detected. Sometimes, gynecological pathology makes debuts with back pain, which misleads women. And, of course, self-treatment in this case can lead to serious complications.

Sooner or later, the back pain will cause patients to seek help from a doctor; the help of a qualified specialist and treating of pain in the cervical, thoracic or lumbar spine should begin as soon as possible. This will greatly accelerate the recovery and will help to avoid chronic pain.