Back Pain - Causes and Symptoms

Most people who have back problems feel pains of various types. It is quite common for adults, but pain may often begin in adolescence.

Almost everyone has experienced or will experience back pain. Most people have stayed or will stay with movement problems because of the pain. Fortunately, most back pains improve spontaneously. About 70% of people are healed within two weeks, 20% - after two months. Only a few individuals are left with chronic back problems. And still there are those having some dangerous disease, tumor or cancer in the spine. Typically, the pain is not dangerous. But of course, it is always best to check with a medical expert.

Since many people who suffer from back pain are of working age, bad back is one of the most common causes of absence from work and early retirement. The costs of back pain to society are enormous. Sometimes with good tips and homemade light treatments, it is possible to reduce these costs greatly and improve quality of life. The description of the most common causes of back pain follows.

Back pain
Back pain
 


Tiredness back

It means that the person feels weak and tired in the muscles, with few or no detectable problems. The weakness may worsen without injuries, accidents or strokes. Usually, the cause is the lack of training or fitness resources, which causes the muscle not renew enough oxygen, leading to chemical processes (wrong) within the muscle. The most famous is the lactic acid. Because of these chemical processes, the body responds with pain that is a warning to the person to slow down or change activities.

Tiredness back
Tiredness back
 
Causes:
  • Monotonous jobs or positions.
  • Work situation, not like what you're doing, lack of motivation.
  • Inactivity and deconditioning, leading to weak muscles and poor posture. The weak muscles have to work above the capacity and therefore produce lactic acid and other residues.
  • Lack of ergonomics in the workplace or lack of ergonomic knowledge.

Symptoms:
  • Constant backaches, without irradiation.
  • Fatigue when you have to lift something heavy or forced in static postures.
  • Inflexibility in the morning when you wake up.
  • Stronger pain after walking or working harder.

The best way to get rid of tiredness in the back is avoiding monotonous work and awkward postures. Lightweight hiking and other daily physical activities also help, always getting lighter and increasing painless activity or making the pain worse. Stretching, yoga classes, pilates or physiotherapy can be of great help as well. Massage usually relieves the pain, clearing the muscles of toxins and providing new oxygen and nutrients. It is also important to improve ergonomics at work or activities you are doing.


Acute back pain

A reflex reaction or defense of a back injury, the acute lumbago is popularly called hang back. In most cases it happens because the person does not take seriously the pain that happened previously. It goes something like this: back muscles are tired and sore because of overload, but the person does not comply with pains and continues working. Until there comes a time when it is no longer possible to stand the pain and the person stops pushing. Low back pain is not a diagnosis but a symptom that appears as severe pain in the lumbar region.

When pain arises, there is a crick in the region and the person cannot stand. After a while, it starts to improve. Sometimes the pain goes down to the buttocks, sometimes to the thigh. Typically, this pain assuages itself after just four or five days with active rest. Otherwise, you need to see a doctor. The back pain is divided into: acute, subacute and chronic. The acute ne is sudden and intense, which temporarily prevents the movement. The subacute is more sneaky, pain is not so intense and increases slowly. The chronicle gives constant pain lasting up to two months.

Causes:
  • Complete or partial breakups of muscles or tendons.
  • Effects of degenerative changes in the discs and joints of the back.
  • Structures trapped in the joints of the back.
  • The sacroiliac joint is stuck.
  • Active trigger points (trigger points).
  • Likely to have cramping muscles: Erector Spine, Square loin, Iliopsoas and the oblique abdomen.
  • Herniated disc.


Symptoms:
  • In most cases, a muscle spasm strong with sharp pains even when little movement.
  • Constant pain because of ischemia in the muscle that is cramping.
  • Posture pie, the cramp prevents the person from getting straight. Unable to do the routine chores.

To treat low back pain one must rest in the beginning. The best way is the position of psoas, meaning, lying on your back with your legs supported, so that the hip and legs form a 90 degree angle. Lying on the floor with your legs on a chair works fine. Active rest is important to stimulate circulation in the muscles. You can move your legs slightly forward and backward and side to side, which will give a small movement in the spine. It is important that the person does not stay down for several days in bed, because this only worsens symptoms.

Light stretching can help to relieve the pain. When the pains are very strong, one can take muscle relaxants, but it is important to consult your doctor first. Massage can be done, but it is best to wait at least two days after the doctor or authorized treatment. It is difficult to accommodate the person on the stretcher for a massage on the first day of acute lumbago. Many patients become very frightened when the crisis occurs, which further worsens the symptoms. Calming the person and accommodating a position where one does not feel so much pain is a great treatment.


Chronic back pain

Massage for back pain
Massage for back pain
 
Most people with chronic lumbago alone may feel better even without treatment. In about 10% of cases problems are more difficult to treat. Where the problem does not improve, we must find causes with specialized medical advice. It may be a tumor or strong inflammation. It is difficult to diagnose back pain and causes of the problem as, for the most part, they are vague and difficult to describe. Pain is a psychological experience impossible to measure.

A person may be more sensitive to pain than others, depending on how the brain interprets what is happening in the body. In most cases, the therapist assesses behaviors and patient's history. Other important factors are cultural and social differences, psychological problems, etc. Of course, often in medicine, with advanced testing, you can see a visible problem like a herniated disc or deviation in the column. But most of the time even if the pains happen nothing appears in exams. Prophylaxis, therapy and medical monitoring are important for people with chronic lumbago can return to normal activities and take care of themselves on a daily basis.

The longer a person stays inactive, the harder it is to heal the pain and make the person return to activities. To treat chronic lumbago it is important to remember the ergonomics of the tasks performed, and you may need to invest in new and better equipment. Doing exercises to strengthen the back muscles is also important, but preferably with the help of a specialist to make sure the activity is done well, wrong training can worsen the problems. The psychological aspects of motivation and inspiration must also be taken into account, the person may easily quit. Massage can be very good to undo cramps and increase blood circulation in the affected area.


Sciatica back pain

Sciatic nerve
Sciatic nerve
 
The nerve Ischiadicus, known as sciatic nerve pain radiates to the buttocks or legs.
Causes:
  • Herniated disc that has not been treated or early symptoms of a hernia in training.
  • Degenerative changes in the spine, such as osteophytes (parrot beak) or stenosis (abnormal narrowing).
  • Tumors, bleeding, inflammation.
  • Gluteal muscles stiff and short, with trigger points (trigger points) assets.
  • Deviations in the hip.

Symptoms:
  • Lower back pain with radiation to the buttocks, thighs, legs or feet. The irradiation may be in one leg or both.

Problems with the sciatic nerve should be diagnosed by a physician for the patient to make sure it's nothing serious. Massage the buttocks, especially in the piriform muscle can relieve the pain depending on the cause of them. If the source of pain is a herniated disc, there is no use treating with massage. But if the muscles are pinching the nerve, then massage can relieve the pain.


Herniated disc

Various disk problems
Various disk problems
 
Herniated disc is a partial or total disruption of the fibrous ring that leads to leakage of the nucleus pulposus, which can generate a callus that presses the spinal cord or the nerve roots. Herniated discs are more common in the lumbar because of greater weight on top of the discs.

Causes:
  • The intervertebral disc is the largest vascular structure of the body (does not receive blood directly). Therefore, it is exposed to suffer fading, and can break dry. It is also one of the structures of the body that have degenerative changes early, may begin to form in adolescence.
  • Awkward postures, monotonous work or lifting weights incorrectly, violent twists, accidents or heavy work executed wrongly.
  • Most often it is a type of flexion / rotation in triggering the lumbar herniated disc.

Symptoms:
  • Depending on how and where the disk ruptures, the symptoms are different.
  • Pain radiating or loss sensitivity as neurological, or motor reflexes.
  • Restrictions motor because of the pain.
  • Sometimes paralysis and difficulty urinating.
  • Central back pain when coughing, sneezing or doing abdominal strength (for example, when you poop).
  • Pain when doing tests Lasegues or Valsalva (lifting the leg, stretching the lumbar nerves).

It is always good to check with your doctor if massage can help. Drills, activities, or wrong treatment can worsen the problem. There are hundreds of variations of hernias, some are light, other stronger. The pain may appear differently in each person, depending on how and where the hernia is pinching the nerve. Simply put, the symptomatology and irradiation are as follows:

Herniated disc in L3 and L4


  • Pain above the thighs, with previous lower sensitivity in thigh and leg.
  • Weakness in the quadriceps femoris and patellar reflex weakened.

Herniated disc in L4 and L5


  • Pain sensitivity and lower lateral thigh and lower pain sensitivity and laterally and anteriorly in the leg and instep.
  • Paralysis in the extensor muscles of the fingers and fibularis longus and brevis fibularis.

Herniated disc in L5 and S1


  • Less sensitivity posteriorly and laterally in the leg and lateral foot.
  • Triceps muscle paralysis Surae and flexors of the foot.
  • Failure of the Achilles tendon reflex.

Herniated disc in S2 and S4
  • These nerves provide contact with the skin in the thigh medially around the anus.
  • Failure reflexes in the anus.

Before treatment people who have herniated disc with massage, they must be evaluated and approved by a medical specialist. When the pains preclude activities as sleeping, walking or doing something it is necessary to have a surgery done. When symptoms are milder, doctors usually prescribe rest and analgesic drugs. Massage can, depending on the herniated disc, help to supplement, reduce pain and improve welfare.

Many people have herniated disc, but do not know why the problem does not bother. But as the disc herniation worsens quality of life and prevents necessary activities, any improvement is welcome. These patients seek to improve all the pain: acupuncture, medication, exercise, spiritual services, massage, pilates etc. Massage can help. But it is always important to start with it very carefully and very light to assess the outcome.

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