Causes and risk factors
Back pain can be caused by various reasons. Wrong sitting postures, prolonged standing or sitting or long distance riding or driving are the most important contributing factors for back pain. Pregnancy in women also lead to back pain. Sprains and strains are the other important causes for back pain.
The other several common causes of back pain are trauma, infection, inflammatory diseases, lumbar spondylosis, osteoarthritis, lumbar spinal stenosis, slip disc or disc herniation complaint.
Clinical presentation:
As the name suggest the person can complaint of pain in back. The location can vary, right from neck region to hip. The pain can be continuous or intermittent. The sensation can be aching, piercing, burning, shooting or stabbing. The pain can be restricted to a specific area or it can radiate to the legs or shoulder region. The person may experience difficulty in movement, bending down or standing upright.
In certain cases some associated symptom can be present like numbness or tingling in extremities, weakness or unexplained weight loss etc.
Investigations:
In cases of pain in back diagnosis is done of the basis of the symptoms narrated by the patient and the physical examination is carried out by the doctor. Certain investigations which can be done are X-ray, MRI or CT scan can be done. In rare cases bone scan and electromyography can be done.
Treatment:
Usually back pain is self limiting and does not need any treatment. Change in lifestyles is necessary to correct the pain where there is no underlying pathology. Adequate rest, correction of wrong postures and regular exercises needs to be adopted. Cold and hot compressions along with pain relieving medications can be advised. In addition in severe cases treatment with local or epidural steroids is given patient not responding to medications and with underlying causes as disc protrusion etc are treated with surgical intervention. Long term rehab measures are advised in patients with chronic back pain.
Other Modes of treatment:
Certain other modes of treatment can also be helpful in coping up the symptom. Taking into consideration the symptoms in holistic way, homoeopathy can offer a good aid for the relief of the symptoms. The Ayurvedic system of medicine which uses herbs and synthetic derivates can also be beneficial in combating the complaints. Acupuncture which is the science of insertion of fine needles on the certain stimulating spots on the body has proved to be effective. Certain yoga exercises can also be helpful in relieving the pain and strengthening the muscles. Cheropathy is another science
Recent updates:
It has been found that the maintaining adequate Vitamin D levels aids in reducing episodes of back pain.
Intradiscal Electrothermal Annuloplasty (IDET) is one of the recent techniques in treating the back pain.
New studies with electromagnetic therapy is been tested for the efficacy in reduction of back pain.
