About 80% of the population of the planet suffer from periodic or constant pain in the lower back.The problem more often occurs in women.The symptom is called lumbalgia.It is so common due to a constant high load on the lumbar spine.He experiences pressure from 50 kg (in a lying position) to 220 kg, if a person sits stooping.The problem indicates errors in lifestyle or serious diseases.With age, it exacerbates and can lead to disability of the patient.
Physiological causes for pain
Discomfort in the form of pain is a protective reaction of the body.So he reacts to various “abnormal” processes inside, which doctors call pathologies.The body hurts at an uncomfortable position and after physical stress, declaring the brain that it is difficult for him to perform the tasks.
Unknown position
Lumbar pains accompany a long stay in an uncomfortable position.The problem bothers drivers and office workers, so they spend a lot of time sitting when the lower back is subjected to maximum loads.A person has a back from fatigue.If he performs something in a bent position for a long time.
The back hurts after sleep, if the berth is poorly equipped.For example, the surface of the bed is too hard or soft and cannot provide full support for the spine and high -quality muscle relaxation.
Increased loads
Muscles and ligaments can hurt in the back.They support the spine in a stable position and undergo loads with intense physical efforts.The conditions for the occurrence of pain occur with sudden movements accompanied by tension of the muscles in the lumbar region.This happens if a person wears severity, pulls heavy objects, lifts them from below-up (bending “in half”).
Muscles can also be overstated during sports.If a person trains a lot, his ligaments need time to restore.If there is no full rest, they wear out or inflam, which the nervous system signals with pain.
Women's pain in the lower back
The problem of lumbar pain is very common among women, since the beautiful half of humanity regularly experiences them under certain conditions.Menstrual abdominal pains are often accompanied by pulling discomfort in the lower back and sacral region.This is not due to increased loads, but is a consequence of the production of prostaglandins (pain mediators).Before menstruation and during them, the synthesis of mediators launches hormonal changes
In the female body.
The lower back in girls hurts during the gestation of the child (in 95% of pregnant women).Not only is the spine experiences heavy stress outside pregnancy.The pressure on the lower back is increased many times with increasing the weight of the woman.Additional loads are created by the belly of a pregnant woman.He pulls the body of the future mother forward, changing the distribution of the axial load.As a result, a woman has a gait, lumbar pains occur, the intensity of which increases in accordance with the gestational age.The loads increase in any position of the future mother, so a full rest, lying on a high -quality mattress is extremely important to facilitate the condition of the woman.
Hypodynamia
Discomfort often occurs in people who do not at all go in for sports or lifting heavy objects.The reason for this is the weakening of the muscle apparatus.The back muscles must be strong in order to support the spine qualitatively and remove the load from it.If this does not happen, bone and cartilage wear out faster, which is accompanied by pain.
Structural disorders
The spine is formed by a frame of bone tissue - vertebrae.Between them are soft "layers" from cartilage fabric - vertebrates.The vertebrae provide strength and stability, cartilage - flexibility and elasticity of the spine.The main structural elements are hollow in the center.The channel is filled with the spinal cord.All components are surrounded by blood vessels, nerve fibers.Pathologies in any element of the lumbar spine cause lumbalgia.
Osteochondrosis
The disease develops when the intervertebral wheat discs wear out.Due to large loads, the discs of the lumbar region are damaged very often.The most common causes of sharp pain in the lower back - protrusion (subsidence) and hernia (damage and protrusion of the contents) of disks, in which the nerve roots of the spine are infringed.Osteochondrosis is subject to people over 35 years old.Especially often the disease occurs in the elderly.
Injuries
The lumbar spine is considered the strongest, since it is it that forms the main “axis” for the entire human body.However, during falls and sudden movements, the vertebrae of this department most often turn out to be injured.Most of the fractures and bruises of the spine are localized in the lower back.
Vascular damage
The vessels provide power to all tissues of the spine.If their lumen is narrowed or overlap, trophic processes in the spine are radically worsening.As a result, inflammation occurs, which is always manifested by pain.
Infringement of nerves
Nerve fibers can be damaged due to any damage to cartilage and vertebrae, with infectious diseases.Any pathology of nerves is accompanied by sharp shooting and sometimes unbearable back pain.
Bone violations
Osteoporosis leads to leaching of calcium and fragility of bones.If the vertebral tissue is exhausted, an increased risk of serious back injuries occurs.In addition, with osteoporosis, the shape of the spine bones may change and the pressure on the nerve roots increases.
Another cause of pain is tumor in the vertebrae.The most common type is hemangiomas.These benign neoplasms develop asymptomatic for a long time, but when the tumor becomes too large and goes beyond the vertebra, the patient has severe pain.
Inflammatory processes
Arthritis can affect any joints in the body.Inflammation leads to damage to joints and the development of pain.It can provoke neglected and chronic infectious diseases.Another cause of arthritis is an autoimmune lesion of connective tissue.
Internal problems
The lower back can hurt not only due to pathologies of the spine.Painful sensations associated with pathologies of internal organs or some system diseases can give to the lumbar region.
Internal organs
Pain in the back is manifested by kidney damage.The renal colic is accompanied by sharp and acute pain on one or both sides of the back.More often it is felt immediately under the ribs behind the body.
Lumbar discomfort often occurs against the background of intestinal diseases, with inflammation of the pelvic organs (bladder, prostate - in men, ovaries and uterus - in women).
System pathologies
Psoriasis and ankylosing spondylitis leads to lumbar pain.In these diseases, violations occur in the structure of connective tissue (cartilage).It loses elasticity, and therefore often inflams.Over time, significant disorders in the functioning of the joints occur, and the nerve endings are under persistent compression (infringed).With ankylosing spondylitis, intervertebral spaces “fire”.
The lower back pain can cause grunting herpes.The rashes with this disease appear on the shoulder blades and ribs, but most often on the side surfaces of the body in the lower back.The first pains appear to significant changes on the skin.When a bubble rash appears, the discomfort is enhanced, complemented by itching.Even after the complete disappearance of spots, severe pains remain in the course of inflamed nerves.They can bother the patient for several months.
Tumors
Malignant lesions of the spinal cord and bones at first do not change the patient's condition.As the tumor grows and the spread of atypical cells in the structure of organs and tissues, changes occur in which nerves are affected.This is manifested by severe pain.Discomfort in the lower back is felt not only with lesions of the lumbar spine, but also if the tumor grows in the internal organs that are innervated by nervous ganglias from this department.
Nervous disorders
Low's pain can be phantom (in other words, the patients invented by themselves).This happens with neuropsychiatric disorders.The psyche works incorrectly against the backdrop of shocks, stress, long -term psycho -emotional stress.Discomfort can occur if a person inspires illness for himself, suffers from overwork.Such signs are manifested for the first time after depression or nervous breakdown and can bother the patient for many years.
How to get rid of lumbar pain
In case of unpleasant sensations in the lower back, the patient should fully rest, reduce the intensity of the loads.As a rule, after a good rest, discomfort weakens or disappears at all.This is a typical sign of pain provoked by the wrong way of life, with a poor -quality rest.If the pain has not disappeared, you need to think about the visit to the doctor.
Diagnosis of the nature of the back pain is carried out by traumatologists, vertebrologists, orthopedists.You can contact any of the listed specialists.At the first consultation, the doctor will interrupt the patient, examine him, conduct several tests (check the sensitivity of the nerves, muscle condition).If you do not work out the diagnosis on the received information, an investigation will be prescribed.To assess the state of bone tissue, an X -ray is prescribed.The structure of the cartilage, nerves, the condition of blood vessels and spinal cord can be estimated by the results of MRI.If the doctor suspects a system ailment, the patient is prescribed laboratory diagnostics (general and biochemical tests of blood and urine).Only by making the correct diagnosis, the specialist will prescribe treatment.
Drug therapy
The list of drugs is completely dependent on the diagnosis.To quickly eliminate the symptoms, the patient will be prescribed a short course of painkillers (usually from the NSAID group).With strong inflammatory and autoimmune changes, glucocorticoid drugs are prescribed.For diseases of the cartilage tissue, chondroprotectors are recommended in injections or tablets.If the problem is the muscles, muscle relaxants recommend.To restore the work of the nerve endings, vitamins of groups are written out
The main treatment is aimed at the cause of pain.If it is caused by diseases of the internal organs, drug therapy will adjust the violations in the work of the kidneys, gastrointestinal tract, and genitals.Symptoms will disappear as the underlying disease is eliminated.With unbearable pain, the blockade of the nerves is carried out (analgesics are introduced directly into the zones of nerve roots).
To enhance the action of injections or tablets, external remedies against pain (patch, ointments, gels) can be prescribed.Such drugs can be used independently, with periodic pain in the lower back against the background of stress or increased loads.To facilitate the condition, you can use the pepper or menthol layer.They are also allowed to use without a doctor’s prescription.
Procedures
For the treatment of lower back pain, a specialist can advise special procedures.These include acupuncture, physiotherapy with electric currents, ultrasound, and medical ultraviolet rays.In some cases, physiotherapy and massage are indicated.When displacing the vertebrae, the help of a manual therapist may be required, who will correct the bone to the place.Any procedures must be selected with the doctor.It is forbidden to undergo treatment, in which they act directly on the spine, without the diagnosis of the disease.In this case, the procedures can not only be useless, but also harm the patient.
To prevent lower back pain, you need to monitor the health of the spine from young age.It is important to properly provide loads on the back (lift objects with crouching, and not bending, pushing heavy objects, and not pull them over).You should moderately engage in physical activity and select exercises with a coach.It is also important to treat infectious diseases in a timely manner, avoid stress, reasonably and, as prescribed by a doctor, take any medication.