It is difficult to imagine a person over 30 who has never felt discomfort and pain in the lower back.The increasing amount of time spent sitting and physical inactivity “causes” us problems with the spine.It is good if the pain is isolated, short-lived and passes quickly and without a trace.It is even worse when the pain increases, becomes unbearable and does not go away for a long time.This signal should be taken seriously.Often this is a signal from the body that it is developing a serious illness that requires attention, effort and even financial costs.
To avoid the development of such events, you need to know the factors and causes of diseases that can trigger the development of such pain.
We hope that our popular article will help you avoid the development of serious events for your lower back and help you maintain your ability to work over a long period of time.
Risk factors for back pain
If you feel pain in the lumbar region, this part of the body is probably exposed to one or more of the following factors:
- lack of physical activity for a long period of time;
- Excessive physical activity after a long break;
- Prolonged sedentary work;
- errors in nutrition;
- Long-term static, monotonous loads on the spine, vibration;
- weight lifting;
- professional sports (wrestling, boxing, weightlifting);
- Smoking and alcohol.
Each of these factors can be eliminated or their influence can be significantly reduced, giving you the opportunity to avoid the development of chronic lower back pain.
Causes of lower back pain
The causes of lower back pain are usually divided into secondary and primary causes.
Main causes of back pain
In fact, it is a pathological process that is predetermined by changes in the musculoskeletal system.In practice, low back pain is far more common than secondary causes of low back pain.The primary causes are usually understood to be one of several degenerative-dystrophic processes:
- osteochondrosis,caused by the development of dystrophic changes in the bone and cartilage structures of the lumbar spine.Sometimes the process affects both the intervertebral discs and the adjacent vertebrae;
- Spondyloarthrosis.This pathology affects the joints that are responsible for the mobility of the spine in the lumbar region.
Secondary causes of back pain
- Deterioration of the condition of bone structures due to metabolic disorders of the lumbar spine (osteoporosis, etc.);
- Oncological processes in the vertebral or paravertebral space.Low back pain can often cause distant metastasis;
- curvature of the spine;
- Infectious lesions of the body (tuberculosis, brucellosis);
- Inflammatory processes of a non-infectious nature (rheumatoid arthritis, Reiter's syndrome);
- Traumatic lesions of the vertebrae in the lumbar region, including fractures;
- diseases of the stomach and intestines;
- Diseases of the organs and systems in the pelvis (renal colic, sexually transmitted infections, adnexitis, ureaplasmosis);
- Stroke disorders of spinal circulation.
Causes of chronic and acute lower back pain
Back pain in the lumbar region can be both acute and chronic.These two factors should be distinguished, since the presence of one or another of them determines the treatment tactics for the underlying disease.In some cases, this can even stop the development of complications and chronification of the disease (its transition to a chronic form).
Causes of chronic lower back pain
- Bechterew's disease (Bechterew's disease);
- Spondylosis deformans.The symptom is often a monotonous, aching pain;
- Tumors and their metastases.Carrying out differential diagnostics to exclude oncological processes from the list of causes that caused chronic pain in the lower back is carried out with the exclusion of lymphoma, multiple myeloma and cancerous lesions of the body of various localizations;
- Oncological formations of the spinal cord (located both directly in the spinal cord and in the space between the dura mater and the spinal cord);
- Osteomyelitis.The symptom is often an excruciating pain in the lumbar region;
- In addition, tuberculin tests can be prescribed to rule out the pathogen that causes tuberculosis in the patient (ruling out spinal tuberculosis).
To clarify the diagnosis, additional examinations in the form of X-rays, myelography and biopsy can be carried out.
Causes of acute lower back pain
- tearing or stretching of muscle mass along the lumbar spine;
- spinal fractures;
- displacement of the intervertebral discs;
- facet syndromes (damage to the nerve root in places where it is not anatomically covered by the bony structure of the spine);
- Epidural abscesses;
- Coxarthrosis (a rare pathology characterized by severe pain).Therefore, coxaarthrosis does not cause pain in the lumbar spine, but causes unbearable pain that radiates to the legs.
Treating lower back pain
The appearance of pain in the lower back, regardless of location and intensity, should be a reason to seek qualified medical help.The high intensity of the pain syndrome should be a reason to call a family doctor or go to an ambulance.
The best solution would be to undergo treatment in the hospital.
Lower back pain can have a variety of causes, often unrelated to spinal damage.Therefore, to distinguish such causes, you may need the help of specialists such as:
- Gynecologist;
- gastroenterologist;
- infectious disease specialist;
- pulmonologist;
- Urologist;
- nephrologist;
- Cardiologist and proctologist.
It is important to remember that early consultation with a professional doctor will help you avoid complications.You should not self-medicate and use folk remedies for pain in the lumbar spine only on the recommendation of a surgeon, orthopedist or vertebral doctor.