Back pain is a symptom of various diseases and conditions. Often, back pain is a reflection of bone pathology, skin changes in the joints and periarticular tissues of the spine, muscles, nerve trunks and on the spine. Back pain can be accompanied by other diseases, including diseases of the internal organs.
Symptoms of back pain
Depending on the cause, back pain may have its own characteristics. The following symptoms are different in rheumatic diseases:
- gives pain in the back, hips, thighs;
- pain increases at rest and decreases with movement;
- pain, accompanied by morning stiffness in the lumbar region;
- the defeat of the spine is bilateral.
With infectious processes:
- acute pain in the spine;
- with a lesion in the lumbar region, the pain spreads to the hips and legs;
- pain increases with pressure on the affected area;
- swelling and redness of the skin in the affected area are often noted;
- the process is often unilateral (on one side of the spine).
With muscle pathology:
- Pain with fibromyalgia is constant, widespread, covering both the right and left halves of the body above and below the waist. Emotional and mental load, the effects of cold temperatures, intensified by sudden changes in climate. Painful spots appear in various anatomical regions and are detected when pressing on them;
- affected muscle tension;
- decrease in muscle strength.
Disc herniation (osteochondrosis), spondyloarthritis:
- low back pain (for example, standing for a long time in an upright position), back pain aggravated by bending back and leaning back, passing at rest;
- discomfort may occur during prolonged stay in one position;
- possible compression of nerves with a hernia or subluxation in the joint. In such cases, pain in the arm, occipital region (with injury to the cervical spine), leg (with injury to the back), accompanied by numbness, tingling and muscle weakness in the leg or arm;
- subluxation of joints in the cervical spine can compress the vertebral artery, headache, dizziness, loss of coordination, vision, hearing;
- the stiffness of the spine disappears after warming.
With damage to internal organs:
- with renal pathology, in addition to back pain, abdominal pain, frequent urination may occur;
- in diseases of the pancreas - the nature surrounding the pain;
- With lung disease - pain in the back or chest, back or front, under the scapula, aggravated by cough.
Reasons
The causes of the disease are very different.
- Low back pain caused by pathology of the spine (bones, ligaments, tendons, intervertebral discs):
- osteomyelitis (an infectious and inflammatory process that affects one part of the bone marrow and then the elements of bone tissue);
- spinal tumors and metastases ("screenings" of tumors of any organ that have spread to the spine with the formation of a new focus);
- herniated disc (osteochondrosis);
- osteoporosis (a disease characterized by increased fragility of bone tissue);
- spondylolisthesis (displacement of one vertebra relative to another);
- scoliosis (curvature of the spine);
- spondyloarthritis (a disease based on the defeat of all components of the joint, primarily articular cartilage);
- fractures;
- stenosis (obstruction) of the spinal canal.
- Low back pain due to muscle abnormalities:
- fibromyalgia (a complex of symptoms characterized by chronic generalized (spreading to many muscles) muscle pain, depression, sleep disturbances, morning stiffness, rapid fatigue);
- muscle cramps;
- stretching of muscles.
- Back pain due to other conditions:
- pelvic bleeding;
- festering hematoma of the retroperitoneal cavity (accumulation of spilled blood);
- diseases of the pelvic organs;
- aortic dissection;
- kidney disease;
- diseases of the abdominal organs;
- rheumatic diseases (ankylosing spondylitis (a disease characterized by an inflammatory process in the spine and joints), reactive arthritis (inflammatory diseases of the joints of an infectious nature), psoriatic arthritis (inflammation of the joints, with the appearance of scaly plaques on the skin);
- herpes zoster, herpes zoster.
- Motivational factors may be:
- injury;
- lift weights;
- unprepared actions;
- prolonged stay in a non-physiological (disturbed) condition;
- hypothermia.
- Analysis of complaints (pain in the spine, back discomfort with prolonged stay in one position, morning stiffness; numbness, tingling, muscle weakness in the arms or legs).
- Analysis of the anamnesis (history of development) of the disease - to ask how the disease began and how it continued.
- General examination (examination and palpation of the spine, determination of range of motion in the spine).
- General blood and urine tests to determine the infectious process and kidney pathology.
- Spinal radiography - allows you to detect pathological changes in the spine.
- Computer magnetic resonance imaging of the spine - allows you to determine in more detail the nature of the damage to the spine and surrounding tissues.
- Electromyography - to detect muscle pathology.
- Radioisotope bone scintigraphy is a contrast study based on observing the distribution characteristics of a contrast agent entering the body in the bones. Excessive accumulation foci indicate the presence of a pathological process.
- Densitometry - determination of bone density. It is performed to detect osteoporosis (a disease characterized by increased fragility of bones).
- Consultation with a neurologist, vertebrologist, rheumatologist, orthopedist.
- Treatment of the underlying disease that causes back pain.
- Take a few days off (2 to 5).
- Wear a corset to relieve the spine.
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (orally, in the form of injections, in the form of local agents - ointments, gels) - to reduce pain.
- Muscle relaxants are muscle relaxants.
- Depending on the cause of the pain, surgical treatment - for example, removal of the purulent focus in the spine; installation of a prosthesis between the vertebrae to restore the normal distance between them by narrowing the intervertebral fissure and compressing the nerve trunks.
- After the disappearance of acute pain - physiotherapy procedures (consultation with a physiotherapist is required), massage, physiotherapy exercises.
- It depends on the cause and severity of the disease that causes the pain.
- It is possible that the disease becomes chronic (osteochondrosis).
- Disability in severe cases (trauma, rheumatic diseases).
- Treatment of the underlying disease.
- Elimination of injuries, physical exertion, hypothermia.
- Proper posture.
- Proper organization of work and sleeping (to exclude the non-physiological condition in which the spine is bent).
- Correction of excess body weight.