In our country, by the thirtieth anniversary, almost everyone had back problems at least once in their lives. Pain in the lumbar, thoracic region or along the entire spine can permanently deprive you of working capacity and restful sleep. But what are the causes of back pain, how to deal with them and what to do to keep your back healthy?
Where does back pain come from
Back pain is experienced by people who for a long time are forced to be in a static position that is not physiological for the body with muscle tension. This happens when driving a car, sedentary work, long journeys or flights, playing sports, carrying weights, working on a personal plot.
In addition, due to low physical activity there is no opportunity to fully train and pump back muscleswhich leads to pain.
Often, prolonged episodes of staying in a monotonous position lead to the appearance of pain, posture disorder, curvature of the spine, lifting weights with a jerk or with one hand, an improperly organized workplace with a poorly matched table or chair. As a result, we feel a sharp or dull aching pain – this is how the body tries to signal the owner about the dysfunction of the muscles and ligaments.
Usually the thoracic region, the lumbar region and the sacral spine are affected, most often the pain spreads along the entire length of the spine.
What can cause pain?
The causes of pain can be some diseases of the skeleton itself, its ligaments and tendons, or adjacent nerves and tissues.
First of all, back pain can cause radiculitis of the lumbosacral region. This is a congenital or acquired change in the spine and its ligamentous apparatus. Pain can be acute or dull and pressing in nature, the pain can be one-sided or occur on both sides, it can shoot into the leg, buttock, thigh or lower leg. Pain may increase with a change in position, walking or straining. The pain may be accompanied by numbness, tingling, burning, itching, or tingling.
Another cause of pain can be lumbago (lumbago) are lower back pains due to heavy lifting or overexertion, the sensations last for several days.
Osteochondrosis – These are violations in the region of the spine and its ligaments, causing pain. They are provoked by difficult working conditions, body tension, injuries and chronic diseases. In this case, irritation occurs in the region of the nerve roots with bone outgrowths in the region of the vertebrae or protrusion of the intervertebral discs.
Another cause of pain can be herniated discs with compression or pinching of the nerve roots. Then there are pains similar to radiculitis. In addition, back pain can be caused by inflammation of the muscles – myositis, then the pains last a long time, they are aching, not strong. And the muscles at the site of the lesion are dense and painful when you try to strain them.
How is back pain treated?
There are three main ways to treat back pain – these are non-drug therapy, drugs and surgical methods. Which of them your back needs can only be determined by a doctor after analyzing the causes and clarifying the localization of pain.
First of all, it is necessary change in motor mode in order to spare the injured area – wearing corsets, posture correctors, belts, reclinators or bandages. A specific device will be selected for you by an orthopedist, taking into account the size and diagnosis. In addition, you need to change the mattress and sleep on a hard surface.
Used to relieve pain and relieve muscle spasm warming ointments and painkillers, pepper plaster or mustard plasters. Rubbing with ointments of anti-inflammatory or analgesic properties, massages help.
In addition, apply physiotherapy – electrophoresis, transdermal analgesia, sinus currents. With back pain, moxibustion and acupuncture, acupuncture, laser and novocaine blockade are excellent. If the pain is due to muscle problems, warm compresses on the area of the affected muscles help.
As acute events subside, therapy includes massage and physiotherapy exercises, manual therapy methods. Osteopathy has an excellent effect on back problems, balneological procedures – therapeutic bathsapplications of mud or ozocerite.
What to do so that your back does not hurt
First of all, you yourself should take care of the health of your back. It is necessary to learn how to stand, sit and sleep correctly, as well as to carry heavy loads with minimal damage to yourself.
Always try to walk and stand with a straight back so that your head does not “hanging” forward, do not lean or bend your body without relying on your hands. If you need to stay on your feet for long periods of time, find a fixation point for your head and limbs, such as leaning against a wall, a closet, or any other support.
You should not walk in shoes with a heel for more than two hours in a row, let your feet rest for a couple of minutes, lifting them up. Try to stay in bent positions for as long as possible.
If you are sitting, always keep your back straight using chairs or chairs with high backs. Unload your lower back and neck with special “bone” pillows or rollers, do not sit on stools or bend over at the back. Every 15 minutes while sitting, change positions, do simple exercises, stretch and lean back. Take breaks for 5 minutes every hour of sitting, get up and walk around.
For sleep, use a mattress with a hard surface, remove high pillows, replacing them with orthopedic rollers under your head. Getting up from beds, roll onto your side and first hang your legs, and then get up smoothly, without jerking, helping yourself with your hands. If you lie down for a long time, you need to change positions.
Carry weights correctly if there is no way to avoid it. You can not carry in one hand a load of more than three kilograms for a woman and five kilograms for a man. It is especially dangerous to lift heavy bags by crouching or by jerking off the ground.
Divide the heavy burden into parts and move it in several steps, take pity on your hands and back. Lift heavy bags with a straight back, crouching between them and smoothly unbending your legs, taking the bags. Try to keep the weights as close as possible to the trunk and limbs, so their weight is distributed more evenly. Do not lift weights with a twist of the body, this can cause displacement of the intervertebral disc. And if the load is heavy, do not be heroic and ask for help from relatives or colleagues.
