What is Back pain?

Back pain or lower back pain can happen for several problems with any part of the interconnected network of spinal nerves, muscles, bones, tendons or discs in the lumber spine.

What are the causes of Back Pain?

Some of the typical causes for back pain are:

• The small nerves on the lower back may get irritated
• The large nerve root (sciatica nerve) that go down to the legs may get irritated
• The large paired erector spinae muscle may get strained
• The joints, bones or ligaments may get damaged
• The intervertebral disc may get degenerated

Although it can happen at any age, back pain, especially lower back pain occurs in people who are in their 40s. Back pain is typically characterized by a localized pattern of discomfort in the lower back area that mostly occurs after an event that culminated in stressing the lumber tissues.

The severity of this condition, depends on a number of issues, which comprises of the degree of the strain and also the resulting spasm of the lower back muscles that occurred owing to the trauma.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Diagnosis of back pain is generally done by the doctors based on the location of the pain and history of the injury. X-ray is usually performed on the patients suffering from this ailment which helps in excluding osteological abnormalities. The most popular treatment for all kinds of back pains or lumber strains consists of resting the back to avoid subsequent injury. Apart from that reconditioning exercises are also prescribed to the patients to strengthen the back muscles along with medications to relieve pain and muscular spasms. Local heat applications are also advised to the back pain patients along with massage which is often done by certified physiotherapists.

What happens when you don't get treated on time :

In rare cases back pain can also be a sign of CES (Cauda Equina Syndrome), which is a condition that requires immediate surgical treatment.

In patients suffering from CES, something compresses their spinal nerve roots, which cause severe pain. As the cauda equine are a bundle of nerve roots which is located in the lumbosacral spine and sends messages to the brain from the feet, legs and pelvic organs, inability to provide a fast treatment, often leads to lasting damage which can lead to incontinency and also permanent paralysis of the legs.

MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scan is also prescribed at time along with a Myelogram (X-ray of the spinal cord after injecting contrast material into the spine), which aids in pinpointing the pressure point on the spinal nerves or on the spinal cord.