It’s hard to find adults who at least once don’t feel pain in the lower back, and some of these painful sensations don’t go away day or night, disrupting quality of life and forcing them to swallow pain pills completely. It is unfortunate, but most of those with chronic back pain do nothing to treat it, believing that it is impossible to cure such a pathology, and it is not necessary.
What a mistake they made! After all, there are effective treatments for back pain. And for this you do not need to find famous doctors and modern clinics at all. It will be enough just to be patient, set goals and start daily therapeutic procedures. Of course, this is not a quick process, but the result in the form of the absence of severe back pain will definitely delight you.
So, let’s look at the main causes of back pain and methods of dealing with it.
Why does your lower back hurt?
There were whole wagons and small cars that caused pain in the lumbar region. They can be divided into two parts - primary and secondary pain syndromes.
Primary back pain
With primary pain syndrome in the lower back, pathological changes mainly develop in the spinal tissue-this is a degenerative-dystrophic disorder that begins in the intervertebral disc, gradually affecting the vertebrae and surrounding soft tissues. Probably everyone knows diseases like osteochondrosis, spondyloarthrosis and spondylosis. This pathology develops gradually, accompanied by chronic pain syndrome, and with the development of complications (nerve root compression, protrusion or hernia of the intervertebral disc, spinal cord compression), acute pain attacks develop, which require immediate medical attention.
Degenerative-dystrophic changes in the spine and its consequences are the cause of low back pain in more than 90% of cases.
Secondary back pain
Secondary back pain can be caused not only by diseases of the musculoskeletal system, but also by pathology of internal organs:
- congenital or acquired pathology of the musculoskeletal system - pathological bends of the spine, flat feet, etc. ;
- rheumatological and systemic diseases (ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, deformed osteoarthritis, reactive arthritis, systemic scleroderma, vasculitis, lupus erythematosus, etc. );
- metabolic pathology and endocrinological diseases in which the normal structure of bone tissue is disrupted - osteoporosis, hyperparathyroidism, osteomalacia;
- malignant and benign neoplastic lesions of the vertebrae and surrounding tissues (myeloma, lymphoma, osteosarcomas, metastatic tumors);
- traumatic damage to spinal tissue (stretching of muscles, ligaments, compression and other spinal fractures);
- inflammatory lesions of the muscles of the lower back - myositis;
- gynecological diseases;
- urinary tract pathology (pyelonephritis, urolithiasis, etc. );
- diseases of the abdominal organs (acute appendicitis, pancreatitis, intestinal lesions).
This article discusses the treatment of major back pain, which occurs in most cases. But before proceeding with therapeutic measures, it is important to visit a doctor to rule out more serious causes of back pain.
Basic principles of low back pain management
If you are looking for an answer to the question of how to treat back pain, then the first answer is that treatment should be comprehensive, injections and pills alone, most likely, will not be able to help you. Basically, medications are used to exacerbate the disease, and after the pain has subsided, they initiate more active actions, for example, restorative gymnastics, physiotherapy, massage, manual treatments, traditional medicine, etc.
Conservative therapy
Drug treatment
If the lower back hurts badly, then you can’t do it without medication. In the treatment of back pain, several groups of drugs are used. The main one is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, which also has a strong analgesic effect. The drug is used internally (injections, tablets) and topically (plasters, ointments, creams, gels). It is necessary to clarify that drugs from the group of NSAIDs, although they eliminate the symptoms of the disease perfectly, do not affect its course, it is impossible to treat osteochondrosis with anti-inflammatory drugs alone.
Painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs work well to relieve pain, but they will not address the underlying cause.
Muscle relaxation must be included in the drug therapy complex. These drugs relieve pathological spasm of the skeletal muscles of the lumbar region (pathogenetic treatment of lower back pain), which greatly relieves pain.
A good helper in the treatment of back pain caused by pinching or inflammation of the spinal nerve roots is vitamin B, which strengthens and helps restore areas of damaged nerve tissue.
To establish nutritional and metabolic processes in the affected spinal tissues, antiplatelet agents, nicotinic acid are used.
If the pain is very severe, then a local anesthetic is used for regional blockage, which allows you to temporarily relieve the pain while steps are taken to eliminate the cause.
Physiotherapy
Exercise therapy is prescribed only after the pain subsides, with exacerbation it is contraindicated. The key to success is regular training. Exercises to strengthen your back muscles should be done daily. It is ideal if such a complex is selected for you by a certified physiotherapist and will teach you all the subtleties of doing exercises.
As a last option, you can learn it yourself (you can find a large number of videos with examples of specific movements). The main thing to be guided while doing gymnastics is the absence of pain. If the movement causes you pain in the lower back, then reduce its amplitude or leave it completely. Doing this at home can help you gradually strengthen your spinal muscles and relieve pain.
massage
The health benefits of back massage can hardly be overestimated. The main thing is that it is done correctly and efficiently. And for this, first of all, you need to find a good, experienced and certified massage therapist.
Massage activates the circulatory process in damaged tissues, contributes to their nutrition and removal of toxic substances. Massage, as well as exercise therapy, is carried out only outside the exacerbation of the disease.
Physiotherapy procedures
Treatment and prevention of low back pain involves various types of physiotherapy treatments. They are all aimed at preventing degenerative processes in the spine and renewing damaged structures.
Often used in the treatment of low back pain:
- magnetotherapy;
- laser treatment;
- ultrasound therapy;
- electrophoresis;
- thermal procedures;
- balneotherapy;
- mud bandages;
- application of paraffin and ozokerite.
Surgery
Surgery for osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine is performed only in extreme cases, because such manipulation has a very high risk. Operates only in patients with intervertebral hernias that cause persistent pain or patients with signs of spinal cord compression.
There are many methods of such surgery - from open neurosurgical surgery to remove a diseased disc to endoscopic and robotic interventions by replacing the damaged disc with an artificial or bioengineered prosthesis.
Unconventional treatment
Acupuncture
Treatment with needle puncture has been used since ancient times to combat various diseases. Modern acupuncture is an effective alternative treatment for back pain. In addition, conventional acupuncture today is augmented by the introduction of various biologically active substances at the puncture site, by magnetic or laser action, which further enhances the effectiveness of the technique.
Manual therapy
It is widely used in the treatment of osteochondrosis and its consequences. The point is manual action on the spinal column, fixing the displaced vertebrae, releasing the nerve from compression and, as a result, eliminating pain. But it should be kept in mind that this is a relatively dangerous method of treatment and only a certified chiropractor should perform such a technique.
Folk recipes
Probably, the treatment of lower back pain with folk remedies is very popular among the population because of its simplicity, originality and availability of ingredients for recipes, great experience in its use and effectiveness. There are many recipes for alternative treatments, consider the most popular.
Horse chestnut ointment is prepared as follows. Grind the chestnut herb into a powder and add to the fat and camphor oil in equal proportions. You can lubricate or apply a compress with such an ointment 2 times a day until the pain subsides.
Mix grated carrots or horseradish with sour cream or thick cream and apply on the aching lower back in the form of compresses. Wrap yourself in a fur scarf and sleep. Repeat this procedure until the pain subsides.
For the next recipe, you need dried burdock leaves. Soak it in boiling water and place on the back, wrap it with a warm cloth. Keep the compress for at least 1 hour.
Rubbing can help with back pain. To do this, you need to make the following mixture. You need to mix cologne, for example, triple, a bottle of iodine solution, valerian tincture and dried red pepper. Then you need to rub the sore spot well with the mixture and wrap with a warm cloth overnight.
Folk recipes relieve back pain well, but its use is allowed only with a doctor's approval.
There are more than a dozen, and perhaps more than a hundred, recipes for traditional medicine. But in each case, before using it, you should consult a doctor - if this particular recipe is contraindicated for you.
If you are experiencing lower back pain and you do not know where to start treating it, then first of all visit a doctor who will determine the exact cause of the pain. Only after this, through joint efforts (you and your specialist), will you be able to overcome illness and pain.