When a person has persistent or acute back pain in the waist, it is difficult to do anything. This is an exhausted and debilitating feeling that can lead to irritability and anger. There may be many causes of pain. They are far from always related to joint or bone disease, but they can indicate abnormalities in internal organs. It is women who pay special attention to this feeling. Their low back pain is usually related to dangerous gynecological diseases.
Causes and nature of pain
Although each type of pain has a major cause, the nature of the sensation may not always be 100% representative of a particular disease. Violations in the human body can be masked by different signs.
Low back pain has the following characteristics:
- Acute discomfort. The patient has difficulty moving, symptoms appear suddenly, and the lower extremities radiate. Acute pain is a typical symptom of injury, compression of the vertebrae, and bone diseases (such as tumors, Cushing's syndrome, and multiple myeloma). The displacement of the vertebrae is also accompanied by acute pain.
- It's a dull pain. It mainly develops with muscle spasm, spinal hernia, radiculitis and osteochondrosis. However, it may occur in diseases of the urogenital system, kidneys, intestines and other organs. Radicitis is divided into two diseases: low back pain caused by vertebral displacement and sciatica, in which nerve endings are affected and low back pain occurs. Kidney disease often causes pain.
- Periodic pain of different nature. They mainly appear in the context of excessive physical exertion, especially prolonged inactivity and no warm-up before exercise. At the same time, if periodic pain is related to organs, it can reflect and radiate.
- Continuous pain. They are mainly related to varicose veins and other vascular diseases, muscular dystrophy, degenerative diseases of bone and cartilage, and inflammation of these elements. It is extremely difficult to get rid of persistent symptoms.
- Shooting hurts. Sharp, sudden, and very strong sensation, accompanied by unpleasant pain for a long time after low back pain. They develop under the influence of factors such as careless movements, excessive stress, and hypothermia.
- Radiating pain. It is mainly related to diseases of the kidneys, pelvic organs, and genitourinary system. It can be colic, stones, and gastrointestinal diseases, including gallbladder diseases, ulcers, tumors, and pancreatic diseases. In men, testicular and prostate diseases are usually the cause, while in women-ectopic pregnancy, uterine and ovarian diseases, cysts.
Since the location of the pain is mainly on the right side, liver abnormalities can be suspected.
Other causes of low back pain
In the pathology that causes low back pain, the symptoms are not clear, may be weak or sharp, rare or permanent diseases can also be distinguished:
- Osteochondrosis-refers to the degenerative form of the disease, in which the intervertebral disc is inflamed, the bone surface becomes loose and the nerve endings are damaged;
- Herniation and intervertebral hernia are diseases that become osteochondrosis stages 2-3;
- Scoliosis-bending the spine to the left or right can cause a very unpleasant feeling in the context of decreased muscle and bone function;
- Ankylosing spondylitis-autoimmune chronic changes in the joints of the spine, leading to loss of mobility;
- Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammation of large and small joints, and its causes are multifaceted;
- Bone infection, including bone tuberculosis, and the infection process within the organ;
- Pancreatitis, adhesions of the digestive tract after surgery, appendicitis, cholecystitis;
- Pyelonephritis, kidney stones and colic;
- Benign and malignant tumors of organs, tissues and bones that compress the nerve endings of the waist.
The painful sensation can cause muscle cramps, symptoms of chills, and sprains caused by injuries or sudden movements.
Characteristics of female and male etiology
In women, a tugging sensation occurs during ovulation in the middle of the cycle and sometimes acute pain. These symptoms will disappear quickly without causing serious discomfort. For some women, pain occurs after a miscarriage, which is considered to cause a lot of pressure on women's health. Low back pain can last for a long time and is usually related to the inflammatory process of the pelvic organs. This happened against the background of inaccurate surgery and severe trauma to the uterine wall.
In women, inflammation of the appendages and ovaries, densely growing uterine fibroids, large cysts, and ovarian bleeding, endometritis, and endometriosis can all cause low back pain. Sometimes this discomfort will occur during menopause, which is related to the drastic changes in hormonal balance.
In men, in addition to prostate cancer and prostatitis, back pain also occurs with epididymitis—inflammation of the epididymis, but the main symptoms are concentrated in the groin area.
diagnosis method
Before diagnosing and prescribing treatment for lumbar spondylosis, you need to visit an experienced specialist-a chiropractor or orthopedist. However, it is the spine specialist who deals with spinal diseases and understands the effective treatments for these diseases.
After checking, palpating, and collecting patient information, the doctor will prescribe several diagnostic methods:
- X-ray. With the help of X-rays, doctors can determine the stage of osteochondrosis and other degenerative processes in the spine. X-rays clearly show the growth of osteophytes and allow you to measure the distance between the vertebrae.
- MRI of the spine. Reveal the pathological changes of intervertebral discs, vertebrae and joints and surrounding soft tissues. Even in the early stages, MRI can easily show osteochondrosis and spondyloarthropathy.
- Myelography. A technique that uses contrast agents to help detect vascular lesions, tumors, and spinal stenosis, abscesses, and other similar changes.
In order to rule out diseases of the internal organs and recognize the inflammatory process, urine and blood are also prescribed. Sometimes a diagnosis of the gastrointestinal tract is needed, including liver enzymes, pancreatic enzymes, and gastric juice.
The diagnosis of back pain helps distinguish certain diseases from others and allows you to choose the right treatment strategy. At home, it is impossible to know which diseases cause pain based on symptoms alone.
How to relieve back pain
Regardless of the cause of the pain, the following groups of drugs will be prescribed to the patient to relieve the symptoms of discomfort (selected by the doctor):
- Analgesics. They do not help all patients, and mainly act on weaker sources of pain.
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. A powerful painkiller taken during the course. They also have anti-inflammatory properties.
- Hormonal agents. Applied within 6-10 days, they include.
- Injection and blockage. Combination medication is often used in combination with glucocorticoids and anesthetics.
- Muscle relaxants. When muscles are aching, they help relieve muscle spasms as well as osteochondrosis and other diseases.
- Topical products. Analgesics, warm creams, gels, and patches should also be used only when instructed.
In some cases, especially in severe stages of joint or bone disease, several groups of drugs are used.
Doctors should prescribe drugs, especially complex drugs such as glucocorticoids or hormone blockers. Only by strictly following the instructions and recommendations, and administering the drugs systematically and strictly according to the prescribed doses can help eliminate unpleasant feelings.
Treatment characteristics depend on the type of pain
For the treatment of low back pain to be effective, it is important to consider its nature. For every condition and disease, pain may have one or another nature.
Treat myofascial pain
This is the name for pain associated with muscle stretching or cramping. They developed under the background of overloading, improper weight lifting and wrong exercise methods. If you maintain an uncomfortable posture for a long time, you may experience myofascial pain when carrying a bag with one hand or shoulder. Sometimes this symptom occurs in the context of bad posture.
When cramps invade the spine, the symptoms are similar to those of sciatica: burning pain in the thighs and calves, and numbness in the limbs.
You can use analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to treat this type of pain in the form of ointments, injections, tablets, and patches. In ointments, it is best to choose warm and irritants.
Sometimes the myositis that causes pain is caused by infection or worm toxins. Then you need to drink antibiotics or anthelmintics to overcome the cause of the pain. In this case, it is forbidden to compress and heat the ointment.
Spinal disease involving nerve endings
Such diseases include all diseases related to dystrophic changes and injuries, whether it is osteochondrosis or spondylolisthesis. The following treatments are required:
- Bed rest during a seizure-you need to lie on a hard surface with a small roller under your knee;
- Medication-In most cases, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are used in the form of injections;
- Irritating and distracting ointments, as well as pepper plasters, mustard plasters and iodine nets;
- Use mud treatment and heating during the relief period, and ozokerite;
- Vacuum massage and acupuncture can relieve spasms.
For nerve root syndrome that is characterized by severe pain, nocaine blockers or weak opioids must be used, bed rest, lumbar dryness or underwater traction, and electrophoresis and microcurrent stimulation are provided.
Treatment of degenerative inflammatory diseases
In order to get rid of back and waist pain caused by degenerative diseases (spondylopathies), the rule of bed rest is to bend the legs into a frog position. In addition, non-steroidal drugs are also used, and the pain is severe during injection. Muscle relaxants are used to relieve muscle tension. Many times, patients suffer from chronic fatigue and depression due to pain and require antidepressants.
Treatment of tumor diseases
The nature of benign and malignant tumors can be very different: lipolipoma, neuroma that affects nerves, spinal cord hemangioma, glioma, osteosarcoma, and chondrosarcoma. Tumor diseases require complex, long-term and complex treatments.
Prescription of anti-cancer devices is mandatory, and patients are sometimes prescribed powerful opioids. They also treat the cause of the tumor, using hormone drugs, chemotherapeutic toxins, and targeted drugs.
The treatment of oncological diseases is one of the most difficult treatments and requires the responsibility of the patient and the doctor. Long-term use of chemotherapeutic drugs and radiation therapy can make the patient's condition worse. The most important thing is not to give up at this time, and remember that the detection of stage 2 tumors provides a very high chance of recovery. Even with stage 3 oncology, you can count on successfully fighting this disease.
The dangers and consequences of pain
If low back pain is not treated and ignored, or if you try to suppress it with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and other painkillers, this may have dire consequences for the patient. In this regard, injuries are particularly dangerous, because injuries to the vertebrae can lead to displacement, cracks, and compression fractures. Other complications can also cause severe pain:
- The formation of chronic pain, even if you take strong painkillers, you can’t get rid of this feeling;
- Spinal cord and brain diseases, extensive damage and paralysis of the nervous system;
- Decreased sensitivity of upper and lower limbs;
- Severe restrictions on liquidity;
- Complications from internal organs to paralysis, stool and urinary incontinence.
When the first symptoms of low back pain appear, it is important to make a diagnosis to determine the cause of the discomfort.
Prevent back pain
The following preventive rules will help avoid certain diseases and discomforts:
- Moderate physical activity, daily gymnastics to strengthen the muscles, corset and improve blood circulation;
- Use hard surfaces as seats, eliminating frequent staying on upholstered furniture;
- If a person sits and works for a long time, he should use the furniture recommended for this;
- In order to prevent many diseases, it is necessary to eat right and reject bad habits;
- You need to transfer the weight correctly, distribute the weight on your hands, and be careful not to lift a lot of weight violently.
No one is immune from back pain. If the diseases and pathological changes of the spine are discovered in time, they can be quickly and correctly got rid of them.