What Is Low Back Pain?
Low back pain is a universal human experience. Unless you don’t age or have the secret to long life, as we age almost everyone has it at some point. The lower back, which starts below the ribcage, is called the lumbar region. Pain here can be intense and is one of the top causes of missed work. Fortunately, low back pain often gets better on its own. When it doesn’t, there are effective treatments.
Back Pain Culprit: Your Job, your bag, working out, posture, herniated disc, chronic conditions
Preventing Low Back Pain
There’s no sure way to prevent back pain as you age, but there are steps you can take to lower your risk:
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Stay at a healthy weight.
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Exercise regularly.
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Lift with your legs, not your back.
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Make sure your work station position isn’t contributing to your pain.
Symptoms of Low Back Pain
Symptoms range from a dull ache to a stabbing or shooting sensation. The pain may make it hard to move or stand up straight. Acute back pain comes on suddenly, often after an injury from sports or heavy lifting. Pain that lasts more than three months is considered chronic. If your pain is not better within 72 hours, you should consult a doctor.
Diagnosing Low Back Pain
To help your doctor diagnose the source of low back pain, be specific in describing the type of pain, when it started, related symptoms, and any history of chronic conditions. Your doctor may order X-rays, CT or MRI scans to look for damaged bones or discs, or other injuries to the spine.
Muscle Strain or Sciatica?
The kind of back pain that follows heavy lifting or exercising too hard is often caused by muscle strain. But sometimes back pain can be related to a disc that bulges or ruptures. If a bulging or ruptured disc presses on the sciatic nerve, pain may run from the buttock down one leg. This is called sciatica.
Some treatments include rest, yoga, medicine, and acupuncture. In addition are the following:
Surgery
If long-lasting back pain is interfering with your daily life, and other treatments have not provided relief, you may be a candidate for surgery. Depending on the cause of your pain, a surgeon may remove a herniated disc, widen the space around the spinal cord, and/or fuse two spinal vertebrae together.
Physical Therapy
If back pain has left you inactive for a long time, a rehabilitation program can help you strengthen your muscles and get back to your daily activities. A physical therapist can guide you through stretches, strength exercises, and low-impact cardio that will help you be fitter without straining your back.
Massage Therapy
A study funded by the government suggests that massage may help relieve chronic low back pain. After 10 weeks, people who had weekly massages had less pain and were better able to go about their daily activities than people who got traditional care. That was true no matter what type of massage they got, and the benefits lasted at least six months.
Spinal Manipulation and Decompression
Chiropractors and some osteopathic doctors use spinal manipulation to treat low back pain by applying pressure with their hands to bones and surrounding tissues. This treatment is however not appropriate for everyone.
Source: Web MD
Treat Back Pain Without Surgery!
Murrieta Pain Relief Center is popular for treating back pain and for providing chiropractic care amongst residents from Murrieta, Lake Elsinore, Temecula, Menifee, Wildomar, Sun City, Canyon Lake, Corona, Riverside, Fallbrook, Escondido, and our previous location near Cerritos, Artesia, Buena Park, Cypress, Downey, Norwalk, La Palma,Lakewood, Long Beach and the surrounding cities. For cases in which nerve roots or the spinal cord are involved, surgical procedures may be necessary. In these cases, Pain Relief Center – Murrieta may be able to help treat your backpain without surgery throughspinal decompression treatments. Contact us for a free consultation.
The causes of back pain can be very complex, and there are many structures in the back that can cause pain. The following test procedures are used to test and evaluate the cause of pain:
X-RAYS
X-rays can be very effective in diagnosing traumatic bone and joint injuries such fractures and dislocations. An X-Ray provides images that can be used to evaluate bones, joints and degenerative lesions in the spine.
MYELOGRAM
A myelogram uses X-rays and a special dye called contrast material to make pictures of the bones and the fluid-filled space between the bones in your spine. A myelogram may be done to find problems with the spine such as a herniated disc, or narrowing of the spinal canal caused by arthritis.
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI)
An MRI is a common test to evaluate the lumbar spine. MRI’s can be used to evaluate vertebral bones, discs, joints, nerves, and soft tissue
CAT SCAN (CT)
CT scans may be requested when problems are suspected in the bones or when a patient is unable to obtain an MRI
DISCOGRAPHY
A discography is a medical procedure that involves injecting a dye into the jellylike center of a spinal disc to help diagnose back problems. During discography, a doctor looks at the amount of pressure needed to inject the dye into the disc, whether it causes pain that is the same as your regular pain, how much dye is used, and how the dye appears on X-ray once it is inside the disc.
EMG
An electromyogram (EMG) measures how well and how fast the nerves can send electrical signals. If you have leg pain or numbness, you may have these tests to find out how much your nerves are being affected. These tests check how well your spinal cord, nerve roots, and nerves and muscles that control your legs are working.
BONE DENSITY
Bone mineral density (BMD) testing generally correlates with bone strength and is used to diagnose osteoporosis
BONE SCAN
A bone scan is a test to help find the cause of your back pain. It can be done to find damage to the bones. A bone scan can often find a problem days to months earlier than a regular X-ray test.
