Health Information - Back Pain

Lower back pain is common. In fact it is probably as common as the common cold. Eight out of every ten people have had a back problem, or will have a back problem sometime in their life. Low back pain is one of the most common afflictions in our society. Almost every person will have at least one episode of low back pain at some time in his or her life. Lower back pain can vary from severe and long term to mild and short lived. It will resolve within a few weeks for most people. 
 

In spite of it being so common, we know very little about lower back pain. The difficulty is that the back is complex, consisting of about ten different structures including bones, nerves, muscles, discs, and other soft tissues. It is impossible to know for certain which structure is responsible for the pain. In most cases, lower back pain is unaccompanied by any abnormality on investigations. On the other hand, many people with no back problem turn out to have abnormal discs. So, even if someone has lower back pain and an abnormality, it is difficult to know whether the abnormality is the cause of the pain. Disc herniation, in which a disc fragment escapes normal position and may press on a nerve root, is present in only 1-2 per cent of patients with back pain. 

It is seen that almost everyone has some advice to offer on lower back pain. But seldom is this advice helpful. On the contrary most of this advice can actually be harmful or even damaging. 

The common wrong notions about what is the cause of lower back pain are:
1. If the back hurts, rest the back until that pain goes away. 
2. A disc problem always requires surgery.
3. X-rays, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT) scans can always tell what's wrong with the lower back and everyone with lower back pain should undergo these tests. 
4. Lower Back Pain is more common as age increases.
5. Drugs are most important for treatment of lower back pain.

These attitudes come from 30 or 40 – year old medical advice. Inspite of new thinking on these subjects, conventional wisdom dies hard. All these and many other common sense notions have been proved wrong by research, observation and study. The following pages burst some of these myths. 

Related Info: 
Lower Back Pain Exercise: 
Evidence-based studies of lower back pain have clearly shown that the only way to restore a spine's function is to increase the strength of the muscles that support the spine and this can only be done by regular exercise. Pain reducing medicines are of temporary help and are not curative. Pain killing medications should be used sparingly and only for short periods. Experts suggest resting the back, but usually not for more than 3-4 days, plus use of pain killers in the early stages and then beginning an exercise plan as soon as the pain permits. 

Lower Back Pain Relief and Treatment:
In most cases, people recover from episodes of acute lower back pain in three weeks to three months. But for those who don't recover, chronic lower back pain can be a significant cause of inconvenience and suffering. Therefore, the goals for treatment of acute lower back pain are : 

1. Reduce recovery time. 
2. Prevent development of chronic pain

To achieve the above goals, one or more of the following treatments are required: rest, medications, physical therapy, training for development of proper posture, weight loss, spinal manipulation, acupuncture, and stress management. If there is no response to these treatments then surgery is considered. 

All patients should remember, it is the doctor's job to relieve pain, and the patient's job to keep exercising and maintaining good posture. Read More