It is difficult to imagine a person over the age of 30 who has never experienced discomfort and pain in the lower back.The increasing time of life spent in a sitting position, in addition to the lack of physical activity "gives" us problems with the spine.It is good when the pain is isolated, short-lived and passes quickly without leaving a trace.It is worse when the pain increases, becomes unbearable and does not disappear 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 will require attention, effort and even financial costs.
To avoid the development of such events, you need to know about the factors and causes of these diseases that can cause the development of such pain.
We hope that our popular article will help you avoid the development of serious events for the lower back and help you maintain your ability to work for a long time.
Risk factors for low back pain
If you feel pain in the lumbar region, you have probably exposed this part of the body to one or more of the following factors:
- Lack of physical activity for a long time;
- Excessive physical activity after a long rest;
- Prolonged sedentary work;
- Eating errors;
- Long-term static, monotonous loads on the spine, vibrations;
- Weight lifting;
- Professional sports (wrestling, boxing, weightlifting);
- Smoking and alcohol.
Each of these factors can be eliminated or its influence significantly reduced, which will enable you to avoid the development of chronic low back pain.
Causes of lower back pain
The causes of lower back pain are usually divided into secondary and primary.
Main causes of low back pain
In fact, they are a pathological process that is predetermined by musculoskeletal changes.In lower back pain practice, they are much more common than secondary causes of lower back pain.As a rule, the main causes are understood as 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 intervertebral discs and adjacent vertebrae;
- Spondyloarthrosis.This pathology affects the joints that are responsible for the mobility of the spine in the lumbar region.
Secondary causes of low back pain
- Deterioration of the condition of bone structures due to metabolic disorders of the lumbar spine (osteoporosis, etc.);
- Oncological processes in the spinal or paravertebral space.Often low back pain can cause distant metastases;
- 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 organs and systems in the small 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 must be distinguished, since the presence of one or the other of them will determine the tactics for treating the underlying disease.In some cases, this can even stop the development of complications and the chronification of the disease (its transition into a chronic form).
Causes of chronic low back pain
- Bekhterev's disease (ankylosing spondylitis);
- Spondylosis deformans.Often its symptom is monotonous pain;
- Tumors and their metastases.Conducting differential diagnostics to exclude oncological processes from the list of causes that caused chronic pain in the lower back is carried out by excluding lymphoma, multiple myeloma, cancerous lesions of the body with different 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.Often its symptom is nagging pain in the lumbar region;
- In addition, tuberculin tests may be prescribed to rule out the causative agent of tuberculosis in the patient (rule out spinal tuberculosis).
To clarify the diagnosis, additional tests can be performed in the form of radiography, myelography and biopsy.
Causes of acute lower back pain
- Tearing or stretching of the muscle mass along the lumbar spine;
- Vertebral fractures;
- Intervertebral disc displacement;
- Facet syndromes (damage to the nerve root in places where it is not anatomically covered by the bone structure of the spine);
- Epidural abscesses;
- Coxarthrosis (a rare pathology characterized by severe pain).As such, coxarthrosis does not provoke lumbar pain, but causes excruciating pain that radiates to the legs.
Treatment of lower back pain
The appearance of pain in the lower back, regardless of its localization or intensity, should be a reason to seek qualified medical help.The high intensity of the pain syndrome should be a reason to call a doctor at home or seek an ambulance.
The best solution would be to conduct a course of treatment in hospital conditions.
Pain in the lower back can have various causes, often not related to damage to the spine, and 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 getting advice from a professional doctor as soon as possible will help you avoid developing 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 vertebrologist.