It’s hard to find an adult who hasn’t felt lower back pain at least once, and some of these painful feelings don’t go away day or night, impairing their quality of life and forcing them to swallow whole handfuls of painkillers. It is unfortunate, but most of those who suffer from chronic lower back pain do nothing to treat it, believing that such pathology is impossible to cure and is not necessary.
How wrong they are! After all, there is an effective treatment for back pain. And for that you don’t even have to look for famous doctors and modern clinics. It will be enough just to be patient, set a goal and start daily therapeutic procedures. Of course, this is not a quick process, but you will surely like the result in the absence of severe back pain.
So, let's look at the main causes of lumbar pain and methods of solving them.
Why do your lower back hurt?
There is a whole carriage and a small cart that causes pain in the lumbar region. They can be divided into two parts - primary and secondary pain syndrome.
Primary back pain
In primary lower back pain syndrome, pathological changes primarily develop in the spinal tissues themselves - degenerative-dystrophic disorders that begin in the intervertebral discs, gradually affecting the vertebrae and surrounding soft tissues. Probably everyone knows such diseases as osteochondrosis, spondyloarthritis and spondylosis. These pathologies develop gradually, accompanied by chronic pain syndrome, and with the development of complications (nerve root compression, protrusion or intervertebral disc herniation, spinal cord compression) an attack of acute pain develops, which requires urgent 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 curvature of the spine, flat feet, etc. ;
- rheumatological and systemic diseases (ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, deforming osteoarthritis, reactive arthritis, systemic scleroderma, vasculitis, lupus erythematosus, etc. );
- metabolic pathologies and endocrinological diseases in which the normal structure of bone tissue is disturbed - osteoporosis, hyperparathyroidism, osteomalacia;
- malignant and benign neoplastic lesions of the vertebrae and surrounding tissues (myeloma, lymphomas, osteosarcomas, metastatic tumors);
- traumatic damage to spine tissue (stretching of muscles, ligaments, compression and other vertebral fractures);
- inflammatory lesions of the muscles of the lower back - myositis;
- gynecological diseases;
- urinary tract pathology (pyelonephritis, urolithiasis, etc. );
- diseases of the abdominal organs (acute appendicitis, pancreatitis, intestinal lesions).
This article deals with the treatment of primary back pain, which occurs in most cases. But before proceeding with therapeutic measures, it is necessary to visit a doctor to rule out more serious causes of lower back pain.
Basic principles of lumbar pain management
If you are looking for an answer to the question of how to treat low back pain, then the first answer is that the treatment should be comprehensive, injections and tablets alone will most likely not be able to help you. Basically, drugs are used to aggravate the disease, and after the pain stops, more active action begins, for example, therapeutic gymnastics, physiotherapy, massage, manual treatment, traditional medicine, etc.
Conservative therapy
Drug treatment
If your lower back hurts a lot, then you can’t do without medication. Several groups of drugs are used to treat back pain. The main ones are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which also have strong analgesic effects. These drugs are used internally (injections, tablets) and topically (patches, ointments, creams, gels). It should be clarified that drugs from the group of NSAIDs, although they perfectly eliminate the symptoms of the disease, do not affect its course, it is impossible to treat osteochondrosis only with anti-inflammatory drugs.
Painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs work well to relieve pain, but will not address the underlying cause.
Muscle relaxants must be included in the drug therapy complex. These drugs eliminate pathological spasm of the skeletal muscles of the lumbar region (pathogenetic treatment of lower back pain), which greatly relieves pain.
A good helper in the treatment of back pain caused by pinching or inflammation of the roots of the spinal nerve are B vitamins, which strengthen and help repair damaged areas of nervous tissue.
Antiaggregating agents, nicotinic acid, are used to establish nutrition and metabolic processes in the affected spine tissues.
If the pain is very severe, then local anesthetics are used for regional blockages, which allows you to temporarily relieve the pain while measures are taken to eliminate the cause.
Physiotherapy
Exercise therapy is prescribed only after the pain has ceased, with exacerbation it is contraindicated. The key to success is regular training. Exercises to strengthen the back muscles should be done every day. It is ideal if such a complex is chosen by a certified physiotherapist and will teach you all the subtleties of performing exercises.
Ultimately, you can learn it yourself (you can find a large number of videos with concrete examples of movement). The main thing to follow when doing gymnastics is the absence of pain. If the movement causes pain in your lower back, reduce its amplitude or leave it completely. If you do this at home, you can gradually strengthen the muscles of the spine and relieve pain.
Massage
The health benefits of back massage can hardly be overestimated. The main thing is to do it correctly and competently. And for that, first of all, you need to find a good, experienced and certified masseur.
Massage activates the processes of blood circulation in damaged tissues, contributes to their nutrition and elimination of toxic substances. Massage, as well as exercise therapy, is carried out only outside the aggravation of the disease.
Physiotherapy procedures
Treatment and prevention of low back pain includes a wide range of physiotherapy treatments. All of them aim to prevent degenerative processes in the spine and restore damaged structures.
They are most commonly used in the treatment of lower back pain:
- magnetotherapy;
- laser treatment;
- ultrasound therapy;
- electrophoresis;
- thermal procedures;
- balneotherapy;
- Mud wraps;
- paraffin and ozokerite applications.
Operation
Lumbar spine osteochondrosis surgeries are performed only in extreme cases, because such manipulations have a very high risk. Operate only patients with intervertebral hernias that cause constant pain or patients with signs of spinal cord compression.
There are many methods of such operations - from open neurosurgical surgery to remove the diseased disc to endoscopic and robotic interventions with the replacement of the damaged disc with artificial or bioengineered prostheses.
Unconventional treatments
Acupuncture
Needle piercing has long been used to fight various diseases. 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 site of the sting, the action of magnets or lasers, which further increases the efficiency of the technique.
Manual therapy
It is widely used in the treatment of osteochondrosis and its consequences. The essence is manual action on the spinal column, placement of displaced vertebrae, release of nerves from compression and, as a result, elimination of pain. But it should be noted that these are quite dangerous methods of treatment 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 because of its simplicity, naturalness and availability of ingredients for recipes, extensive experience in their use and effectiveness. There are many recipes for alternative treatments, consider the most popular.
Wild chestnut fat is prepared as follows. Grind chestnut herbs into powder and add camphor fat and oil in equal proportions. With this balm, you can apply or apply compresses 2 times a day until the pain subsides.
Grated radish or horseradish mix with sour cream or thick sour cream and apply to lower back pain in the form of compresses. Wrap yourself in a woolen scarf and go to bed. Repeat this process until the pain subsides.
For the next recipe you will need dried burdock leaves. Soak them in boiling water and place on the back, wrap in a warm cloth. Hold the dressing for at least 1 hour.
Rubbing can help with 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, valerian tincture and dried red pepper. Then rub the mixture well on the sore spot and wrap it with a warm cloth overnight.
Folk recipes alleviate back pain well, but their use is allowed only with the approval of a doctor.
There are more than ten, and perhaps more than a hundred recipes for traditional medicine. But in any case, before use, you should consult a doctor - if this prescription is contraindicated.
If you have lower back pain and do not know where to treat it, first visit a doctor who will determine the true cause of the pain. Only after that, with joint efforts (yours and those of a specialist) will you be able to overcome illness and pain.