It's hard to find an adult who at least once hasn't felt pain in the lower back, and some of those painful sensations don't go away day or night, disrupting quality of life and forcing them toswallow whole loads of pain relievers. It is regrettable, but most of those who suffer from chronic low back pain do nothing to treat it, believing that it is impossible to cure such a pathology, and that it is not necessary.
How wrong they are! After all, there is an effective treatment for back pain. And for this you do not need to search for famous doctors and modern clinics at all. It will be enough to be patient, to set a goal and to 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 certainly please you.
So let's take a look at the main causes of lower back pain and the methods to deal with it.
Why does your lower back hurt?
There is a whole cart 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 very tissues of the spine - these are degenerative-dystrophic disorders that begin in the intervertebral discs, gradually affecting the surrounding vertebrae and soft tissues. Everyone is probably familiar with diseases such as osteochondrosis, spondylarthrosis, and spondylosis. These pathologies develop gradually, accompanied by a chronic pain syndrome, and with the development of complications (compression of the nerve roots, protrusion or herniation of the intervertebral disc, compression of the spinal cord), an acute pain crisis develops, which requiresurgent medical attention.
Degenerative-dystrophic changes in the spine and their 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 curvatures of the spine, flat feet, etc. ;
- rheumatological and systemic diseases (ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, deforming arthritis, reactive arthritis, systemic sclerosis, vasculitis, lupus erythematosus, etc. );
- metabolic pathology and endocrine diseases in which the normal structure of bone tissue is disturbed - osteoporosis, hyperparathyroidism, osteomalacia;
- malignant and benign neoplastic lesions of vertebrae and surrounding tissues (myeloma, lymphomas, osteosarcomas, metastatic tumors);
- traumatic injuries 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 damage).
This article discusses the treatment of primary back pain, which occurs in most cases. But before proceeding with therapeutic measures, it is imperative to consult a doctor to rule out more serious causes of low back pain.
Basics of Low 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 probably cannot help. Basically, drugs are used to exacerbate the disease, and after the pain has stopped, they begin more active actions, for example, corrective gymnastics, physiotherapy, massage, manual treatment, traditional medicine, etc.
Conservative therapy
Medical treatment
If the lower back hurts badly, you cannot do without medication. In the treatment of back pain, several groups of drugs are used. The main ones are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which also have strong analgesic effects. These drugs are used both internally (injections, tablets) and locally (plasters, 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 on their own.
Pain relievers and anti-inflammatories work well for pain relief, but they don't address the underlying cause.
Muscle relaxants should be included in the complex of drug therapy. These drugs eliminate the pathological spasm of the skeletal muscles of the lumbar region (pathogenetic treatment of low back pain), which greatly relieves pain.
B vitamins are a great aid in treating back pain caused by pinching or inflammation of the nerve roots in the spine, which strengthen and help restore damaged areas of nerve tissue.
In order to establish nutrition 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 allows you to temporarily relieve the pain while steps are taken to eliminate its cause.
Physiotherapy
Exercise therapy is prescribed only after the pain subsides. In case of exacerbation, it is contraindicated. Regularity of training is the key to success. Exercises to strengthen your back muscles should be done every day. It is ideal if such a complex is selected for you by a certified physiotherapist and will teach you all the intricacies of performing exercises.
As a last resort, you can learn it yourself (you can find a lot of videos with specific examples of movements). The main thing to follow when practicing gymnastics is the absence of pain. If the movement hurts your lower back, then reduce its range or give it up altogether. Doing this at home can help you gradually strengthen your spine muscles and provide pain relief.
Massage
The health benefits of back massage can hardly be overstated. The main thing is that it is done correctly and competently. And for that, you first need to find a good, experienced and certified massage therapist.
Massage activates blood circulation processes in damaged tissues, contributes to their nutrition and the removal of toxic substances. Massage, as well as exercise therapy, is carried out only outside of the exacerbation of the disease.
Physiotherapy procedures
The 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 wraps;
- 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 that cause 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 procedures with replacement of a damaged disc with artificial or bioengineered prostheses.
Unconventional treatments
Acupuncture
Needle stick 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 supplemented by the introduction of various biologically active substances at the puncture site, by the action of a magnet or a laser, which further increases the effectiveness ofthe technique.
Manual therapy
It is widely used in the treatment of osteochondrosis and its consequences. The main thing is manual action on the spine, fixing the displaced vertebrae, releasing the nerves from compression and, as a result, eliminating pain. But it should be noted that these are rather dangerous treatment methods and only a certified chiropractor should perform such techniques.
Folk recipes
Perhaps the treatment of lower back pain with folk remedies is very popular among the population due to its simplicity, naturalness and availability of ingredients for recipes, extensive 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 grass into 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 the grated radish or horseradish with sour cream or heavy cream and apply to the lower back as a compress. Wrap yourself in a woolen shawl and go to bed. Repeat this procedure until the pain subsides.
For the next recipe, you will need dried burdock leaves. Soak them in boiling water and put them on their back, wrap them in a warm cloth. Keep the compress for at least 1 hour.
Rubbing can help relieve 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, tincture of valerian 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 provide good relief from back pain, but their use is allowed only with the approval of a doctor.
There are over a dozen, and perhaps over a hundred, traditional medicine recipes. But in each case, before using them, you should consult a doctor - if this particular recipe is contraindicated for you.
If you have lower back pain and you don't know where to begin to treat it, see a doctor first, who will establish the true cause of the pain. Only after this, through joint efforts (yours and those of your specialist), will you be able to overcome the disease and pain.