Low back pain is a common symptom that affects 80% of the population. Painful sensations in the lumbar region occur with physical damage to this part of the body or with the progression of the disease. You can't ignore the pain. This is one of the first symptoms of serious back problems. If you have lumbar pain, you need to contact a medical facility. The clinic's doctor will diagnose and develop the optimal course of treatment.
Causes of Back Pain
Painful sensations develop when exposed to the following factors:
- Violation of the nerve roots that leave the spine in the lumbar region;
- Hernia in the lumbar spine;
- impaired posture;
- Lower back sciatica;
- Ankylosing spondylitis;
- genetic changes, for example, different lengths of the lower limbs;
- Intervertebral type osteochondrosis;
- Diseases of the renal system;
- malignant neoplasm;
- disturbed metabolism;
- Arthritis;
- Inflammation around the blood vessel;
- atherosclerotic lesion of the vascular canals of grade 3 and higher;
- Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
- complication after surgery;
- Appendicitis, pain syndrome is localized in the right pelvic region, can be administered on the right side of the lower back;
- inflammatory process of the pancreas;
- Obesity;
- diseases of the bone tissue of an infectious nature, characterized by acute painful sensations in the lumbar region.
In women, a distinction is made between the following causes of back pain in the lumbar region:
- the process of carrying a child;
- Adnexitis, characterized by pain in the lower abdomen radiating to the lumbar area.
- Men also have specific causes of painful sensations:
- inflammatory process of the prostate;
- Epididymitis, localized in the groin area, can spread the pain to the lumbar spine and lower extremities.
Types of back pain
There are different types of pain syndrome, depending on the duration:
Recurring back pain
Discomfort and pain disappear after the lesion is removed and the patient fully recovered. Pain in the kidney area develops with excessive physical exertion. Periodic painful sensations progress in the acute form of diseases of the internal organs.
Persistent back pain
Common causes of persistent pain:
- disruptions in the work of the circulatory system in the lower extremities;
- dystrophic process of bone tissue and cartilage;
- inflammatory diseases of the spine and bones.
Less often, painful sensations persist when there is damage to muscle tissues and internal organs, which is explained by the onset of a dystrophic process. Modern medicine is unable to completely stop the destruction of bone tissue.
Diagnostic methods
Before prescribing drugs and other procedures, doctors conduct diagnostics. Anamnesis is taken, the type and location of painful sensations is taken into account. Diagnostics include performing an ultrasound examination of the abdominal organs, an X-ray of the spine, an endoscopy of the gastrointestinal tract, and performing biochemical analyzes of blood cells and urine. If the lower back is painful and the doctor suspects a malignant neoplasm is developing, the blood will be tested for tumor markers.
The following methods are used in clinics to accurately identify the causes of back pain:
Which doctor should you contact?
At the first sign of pain, make an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon or neurologist. The doctor listens to complaints, examines them, sends them for examination. Diagnose and prescribe an effective treatment.
Back pain treatment
After passing the diagnosis, the doctor draws up a course of treatment that is complex in nature. Prescribed drugs, physiotherapy procedures. Manual therapy is used when possible. With severe development of the disease, which caused pain in the lumbar region, surgery is prescribed. Depending on the severity of the painful sensations, physical education classes can be prescribed or prohibited. With light acute pain, the load is contraindicated.
The following techniques are used in clinics to treat low back pain:
effects
Without therapy for back pain and the cause of the symptom, a number of complications arise:
- painful sensations continue to spread, healthy tissue is affected;
- the work of the cardiovascular system deteriorates;
- in severe cases, paralysis of the upper and lower extremities is possible.
Back pain prevention
To avoid the development of painful sensations in the lumbar area, the following recommendations should be followed:
- use a mattress of medium firmness for sleeping;
- do lumbar exercises once an hour for sedentary work;
- avoid sudden body movements;
- give up the consumption of alcoholic beverages, smoking, narcotics;
- daily physical education;
- avoid hypothermia of the lumbar region;
- sleep in the correct posture;
- maintain a balanced diet;
- Control posture;
- Avoid stressful situations;
- timely treat inflammatory and infectious diseases;
- if you have painful sensations in the lumbar region, seek advice from a medical facility;
- To undergo early preventive examinations to detect diseases of the lumbar spine.