It is difficult to imagine a person over 30 years old who has never felt discomfort and pain in the lumbar region.The increasing time spent in a sitting position, combined with physical inactivity, "causes" us problems with the spine.It's good when pain is isolated, short-lived, and passes quickly without leaving a trace.It gets worse when the pain increases, becomes unbearable and does not go away for a long time.This signal should be taken seriously.Often this is a signal from the body that it is developing a serious disease that requires attention, effort and even financial costs.
To avoid the development of such events, you need to know about the factors and causes of diseases that can cause the development of such pain.
We hope that our popular article will help you avoid developing serious lower back complications and help you maintain your ability to work over the long term.
Risk factors for low back pain
If you feel pain in the lower back area, this body part may have been exposed to one or more of the following factors:
- Lack of physical activity over a long period of time;
- Excessive physical activity after a long period of rest;
- Prolonged sedentary work;
- Nutritional errors;
- Long-term static electricity, monotonous load on the spine, shaking;
- Lift weights;
- Professional sports (wrestling, boxing, weightlifting);
- Smoking and drinking alcohol.
Any of these factors can be eliminated or its effects can be significantly reduced, which will give you the best chance of avoiding the development of chronic low back pain.
Causes of lower back pain
Causes of lower back pain are often divided into secondary and primary.
Main cause of low back pain
In fact, they are a pathological process predetermined by musculoskeletal changes.In the practice of treating lower back pain, they are much more common than secondary causes of lower back pain.As a rule, the main cause is understood as one of several degenerative-dystrophic processes:
- osteoarthritis,caused by the development of dystrophic changes in the bone and cartilage structures of the lumbar spine.Sometimes this process affects both the intervertebral disc and adjacent vertebrae;
- Inflammation of the spine.This pathology affects the joints responsible for the mobility of the spine in the lumbar region.
Secondary causes of low back pain
- Impaired bone structure condition due to metabolic disorders in the lumbar spine (osteoporosis, etc.);
- Oncological processes in the vertebral or paravertebral cavity.Often, low back pain can cause distant metastases;
- Curvature of the spine;
- Infectious lesions of the body (tuberculosis, brucellosis);
- Inflammatory processes of a non-infectious nature (rheumatoid arthritis, Reiter's syndrome);
- Injuries to the vertebrae in the lumbar region, including fractures;
- Diseases of the stomach and intestines;
- Diseases of organs and systems in the pelvis (renal colic, sexually transmitted infections, adnexitis, ureaplasmosis);
- Stroke disorders of spinal circulation.
Causes of chronic and acute back pain
Back pain in the lumbar region can be acute and chronic.It is necessary to distinguish between these two factors, since the presence of one or the other will determine the tactics of treating the underlying disease.In some cases, this can even prevent the development of complications and chronicity of the disease (transition to a chronic form).
Causes of chronic low back pain
- Bechterew's disease (ankylosing spondylitis);
- Degenerative spinal deformity.Its symptoms are often monotonous pain;
- Tumors and their metastases.Conduct differential diagnosis to exclude cancerous processes from the list of causes of chronic low back pain, and at the same time rule out lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and cancerous lesions on the body in various locations;
- Cancerous formation of the spinal cord (located directly in the spinal cord and in the space between the dura mater and the spinal cord);
- Osteomyelitis.Its symptoms are often persistent pain in the lumbar region;
- In addition, a tuberculin test may be ordered to rule out the causative agent of tuberculosis in the patient (rule out spinal tuberculosis).
To clarify the diagnosis, additional studies may be performed in the form of radiographs, myelograms, and biopsies.
Causes of acute lower back pain
- Tearing or straining of the muscle mass along the lumbar column;
- spinal fractures;
- Displacement of the intervertebral disc;
- Facial syndrome (damage to nerve roots in places that are anatomically not covered by the bony structure of the spine);
- Epidural abscess;
- Coxarthrosis (a rare pathology characterized by severe pain).Thus, coxarathrosis does not cause low back pain but it causes unbearable pain that radiates down the legs.
Treatment of lower back pain
The presence of lower back pain, regardless of its location or intensity, is reason to seek professional medical help.High intensity of pain syndrome should be a reason to call a doctor at home or look for an ambulance.
The best solution is to undergo a course of treatment at the hospital.
Lower back pain can be caused by many different causes, often unrelated to spinal damage, and therefore, to distinguish those causes, you may need the help of specialists such as:
- gynecologist;
- gastroenterologist;
- infectious disease specialist;
- pulmonologist;
- urologist;
- nephrologist;
- Cardiologist and proctologist.
It's important to remember that getting professional advice as soon as possible will help you avoid complications.You should not self-medicate and only use folk remedies to relieve lumbar spine pain as recommended by a surgeon, orthopedist or vertebra specialist.