Symptoms, causes and treatment of back pain

Back pain, above everything, is something that cannot be tolerated for long. Even people with a high threshold for pain agree that back pain can be intolerable if it turns chronic. There are many kinds of back pain that can be experienced. Also, back pain can be experienced or caused due to many underlying health conditions as well. Back pain can range from being mild to completely disabling movement of any kind. If you are looking for a pain clinic then make sure you are sure of the symptoms.

Alternatively, back pain can also be experienced and caused because of reasons, which have nothing to do with any underlying health condition whatsoever. For example, people often complain of experiencing back pain after lifting heavy weights at the gym or working out for long. Another reason might be sitting or lying down in uncomfortable positions for prolonged periods of time. In these cases, generally, the pain is mild and gets resolved with a pain specialist treatment.

Types and causes of back pain

• Sciatica

Sciatica is usually referred to as the kind of pain that is felt from the lower back region through the hips and down the legs. The pain generally radiates throughout the path of the sciatic nerve. The pain is only felt down one of the legs as Sciatica affects only one side of the body.

Symptoms: The most common symptom of Sciatica is the pain experienced from the lower back traveling through the hips and buttocks to one of the legs. Another symptom is experiencing some numbness, a tingling sensation or weakness in the leg the pain is felt in. The pain can be as mild as a normal ache to feeling a sudden jolt in your back or leg.

Causes and risk factors: The common causes of Sciatica can be a herniated disk, spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spine) which compresses a part of the nerve thereby causing the inflammation and the pain. Although the pain experienced in sciatica usually resolves by non operative measures, complicated cases might need surgery. For example, people who lose feeling or experience weakness of muscle in the affected leg or lose their bladder and bowel function might not have any option left other than surgery.

• Degenerative disc disease

When the disc(s) between the vertebrae of our spinal cord, loses its strength or breaks down, there is an unimaginable pain in the concerned area. This disease can be termed as the Degenerative disc disease. It has been seen that the condition shows up after a certain age period and therefore, it is safe to say that the condition is age related.

Symptoms: Considering the nature of the condition, there is no range of symptoms present. The concerned patient might face severe back pain. The pain can be stagnant or might occur when one aims to do regular normal work. The pain and weakness can transfer from the back to different parts of the body.

Causes and risk factors: The intervertebral disc cushions minimises the stress on the spine and with age, these discs become weak and dry. Due to years of strain and work, they tend to lose their strength and therefore are unable to act as a cushion. Alongside age, obesity and heavy physical work is a huge risk factor.

• Arthritis

When one or more joints of our body become weak and swell up, there is stiffness and heavy pain in the concerned area. This condition is known as Arthritis. The conditions are of many types, of which the most common are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Symptoms: The most prominent symptoms that one can deduce are pain and stiffness in the joints. Swelling of the part and redness of the skin concerning the area of pain and swelling. All of this together causes back pain.

Causes and risk factors: In osteoarthritis, the cartilage of the joints witness rough damage. This can be caused by infection or injury of the joint. In case of rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system of the body affects the joint capsules. This causes inflammation of the joint and in the long run causes heavy damage to the joints. Family history, age factor, gender and obesity are the possible risk factors.

• Slipped Disc

Herniated disc or slipped disc is a condition where the inner portion of the spine protrudes out of the ring because of either injury or age related weakness. Thus, causing severe pain and discomfort along the spinal cord and nerves which we often identify as back pain.

Symptoms: One of the most common symptoms is heavy pain and numbness of the body or parts of the body. Along with this, pain while locomotion, pain in the arms and legs, weakness of the muscle and burning sensation in the concerned region of the body.

Causes and risk factors: One of the principle causes of slipped disc is obesity. Along with this, age is a key cause as the joints become weak with age and pressure. Obesity, strained workout are the possible risk factors for the condition.

Wrapping up:

An effective treatment is also prevention by avoidance of known triggers. Some of the treatments include the intake of prescription drugs for pain relief and even help of a good pain specialist.

Since 2002, the pain specialists at Advanced Pain Care have successfully relieved the suffering of thousands of patients in pain. With eleven locations and two surgery centers across Texas, APC is your destination for Pain Treatment.