It's hard to find an adult who hasn't felt pain in their lower back at least once, and some of these painful sensations don't go away day and night, disrupting their quality of life and forcing them to swallow whole armfuls of painkillers. It is regrettable, but most of those who suffer from chronic back pain do nothing to cure it, believing that it is impossible to cure such a pathology and it is not necessary.
How wrong they are! After all, there is an effective treatment for back pain. And for this it is not at all necessary to look for famous doctors and modern clinics. It will be enough just to be patient, set a goal and start the 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 certainly please you.
So, let's take a look at the main causes of lower back pain and the methods for dealing with them.
Why does your lower back hurt?
There is a whole carriage and a small cart that causes pain in the lower back. 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 develop mainly in the same tissues as the spine - these are degenerative-dystrophic disorders that begin in the intervertebral discs, gradually affecting the surrounding vertebrae and soft tissues. Probably everyone knows such diseases as osteochondrosis, spondylarthrosis and spondylosis. These pathologies develop gradually, accompanied by chronic pain syndrome and with the development of complications (compression of the nerve roots, protrusion or herniated intervertebral disc, compression of the spinal cord), an acute pain attack develops, which requires urgent medical attention .
Degenerative-dystrophic changes in the spine and their consequences are the cause of low back pain in over 90% of cases.
Secondary back pain
Secondary back pain can be caused not only by diseases of the musculoskeletal system, but also by pathologies of the internal organs:
- congenital or acquired pathology of the musculoskeletal system - pathological folds of the spine, flat feet, etc. ;
- rheumatological and systemic diseases (ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, deforming arthrosis, 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 (myelomas, lymphomas, osteosarcomas, metastatic tumors);
- traumatic damage to the tissues of the spine (stretching of muscles, ligaments, compression and other vertebral fractures);
- inflammatory lesions of the muscles of the lower back - myositis;
- gynecological diseases;
- pathology of the urinary tract (pyelonephritis, urolithiasis, etc. );
- diseases of the abdominal organs (acute appendicitis, pancreatitis, intestinal lesions).
This article deals with the treatment of primary back pain, which occurs in most cases. But before proceeding with therapeutic measures, it is imperative to visit a doctor to rule out more serious causes of low back pain.
Basic principles of lower back pain management
If you are looking for an answer to the question of how to treat low back pain, the first answer is that the treatment should be comprehensive, injections and pills alone will most likely not be able to help you. Basically, medicines are used to exacerbate the disease, and after the pain is stopped, more active actions begin, for example, remedial gymnastics, physiotherapy, massage, manual treatment, traditional medicine, etc.
Conservative therapy
Pharmacological treatment
If your lower back hurts a lot, you can't do without medication. In the treatment of back pain, several groups of drugs are used. The main ones are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which also have powerful analgesic effects. These drugs are used both internally (injections, tablets) and locally (strains, ointments, creams, gels). It is necessary to clarify that the drugs of the NSAID group, although they perfectly eliminate the symptoms of the disease, do not affect its course, it is impossible to treat osteochondrosis with anti-inflammatory drugs alone.
Pain relievers and anti-inflammatory drugs work well for pain relief, but they don't address the underlying cause.
Muscle relaxants should be included in the drug therapy complex. These drugs eliminate the pathological spasm of the skeletal muscles of the lumbar region (pathogenetic treatment of low back pain), which greatly relieves pain.
A good aid in the treatment of back pain caused by pinching or inflammation of the spinal nerve roots are B vitamins, which strengthen and help restore damaged areas of nerve tissue.
In order to establish nutritional and metabolic processes in the affected tissues of the spine, antiplatelet agents, nicotinic acid are used.
If the pain is very severe, local anesthetics are used for regional blockages, which allow for temporary pain relief while measures are taken to eliminate the cause.
Physiotherapy
Physical therapy is prescribed only after the pain subsides, with exacerbation it is contraindicated. The key to success is the regularity of training. Exercises to strengthen the back muscles should be done every day. It is ideal if such a complex is selected for you by a certified physiotherapist and he will teach you all the subtleties of performing exercises.
As a last resort, you can learn it yourself (you can find a large number of videos with specific examples of movements). The main thing to be guided by when doing gymnastics is the absence of pain. If the movement causes pain in your lower back, reduce its amplitude or abandon 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 overstated. The main thing is that it is done correctly and competently. And for this, first of all, you need to find a good, experienced and certified massage therapist.
Massage activates the processes of blood circulation in damaged tissues, contributes to their nutrition and the elimination of toxic substances. Massage, as well as physical therapy, is carried out only outside the exacerbation of the disease.
Physiotherapy procedures
Treatment and prevention of low back pain involves a wide variety of physiotherapy treatments. All of them are aimed at preventing degenerative processes in the spine and renewing damaged structures.
Most often used in the treatment of low back pain:
- magnetotherapy;
- laser treatment;
- ultrasound therapy;
- electrophoresis;
- thermal procedures;
- balneotherapy;
- mud packs;
- paraffin and ozokerite applications.
Surgery
Operations for osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine are carried out only in extreme cases, since such manipulations carry a very high risk. Operate only on patients with intervertebral hernias causing constant pain or patients with signs of spinal cord compression.
There are many methods for such operations: from open neurosurgical surgery to remove a diseased disc to endoscopic and robotic interventions with replacement of a damaged disc with artificial or bioengineered prostheses.
Unconventional treatments
Acupuncture
Needle prick treatment has been used since ancient times to combat various ailments. Modern acupuncture is an effective alternative treatment for back pain. In addition, conventional acupuncture today is complemented by the introduction of various biologically active substances into the puncture site, the action of a magnet or laser, which further increases the effectiveness of the technique.
Manual therapy
It is widely used in the treatment of osteochondrosis and its consequences. The bottom line is manual action on the spine, which fixes the displaced vertebrae, frees the nerves from compression and, as a result, eliminates pain. But it should be noted that these are rather dangerous methods of treatment, and only a certified chiropractor should perform such techniques.
Folk recipes
Perhaps, the treatment of low back pain with folk remedies is very popular among the population due to its simplicity, naturalness and availability of ingredients for recipes, great experience in their use and effectiveness. There are many recipes for alternative treatment, consider the most popular.
Horse chestnut ointment is prepared as follows. Grind the chestnut herb into a powder and add to the camphor fat and 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 radish or horseradish with sour cream or cream and apply to the sore lower back in the form of a compress. Wrap yourself in a wool shawl and go to bed. Repeat this procedure until the pain subsides.
For the next recipe, you will need dried burdock leaves. Immerse them in boiling water and lay them on your back, wrapping them in a warm cloth. Keep the compress for at least 1 hour.
Rubbing can help with back pain. To do this, you need to prepare the following mixture. You need to mix the 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 it with a warm cloth overnight.
Folk recipes relieve back pain well, but their use is allowed only with the approval of a doctor.
There are more than a dozen, and possibly more than a hundred, recipes for traditional medicine. But in any case, before using them, you need to consult a doctor, if this particular recipe is contraindicated for you.
If you have low back pain and don't know where to start treating it, first visit a doctor who will determine the true cause of the pain. Only after this, through joint efforts (yours and your specialist), will you be able to defeat the disease and pain.