Low back pain is a common phenomenon that occurs regardless of age, but more often in adults. There can be many reasons - from physiological factors to diseases. Sometimes back pain appears briefly and passes quickly. However, pain in the lumbar region can be a sign of serious illness, and in these cases, an urgent need to see a doctor.
Reasons
There are many causes of acute low back pain, they are strictly individual for each patient. The most important of these are diseases and changes in the spine, which can respond with irreversible consequences.
Basic (most common)
The most common reasons are:
- Osteochondrosis. Strange movement provokes pressure on the roots of the spinal cord nerve trunk. Burning and groaning do not stop during the day, if you lift something heavy, there is only hell pain in the lower back.
- Disc hernium. Usually, a hernia is localized in the lower back and any sudden movement of the trunk results in compression of the nerve roots.
- Radiculitis. With lumbosacral radiculus, a shooting pain syndrome occurs. Provokes weight lifting or unsuccessful movements. A sharp pain restricts the patient's movements so much that he is unable to direct and remains in the same position in which he was when the attack occurred.
- Displacement of beads. This problem is characterized by shooting pain in the lower back and, slightly lower stiffness, movement. This pathology is associated with disorders of urination and intestinal function.
- Facet Syndrome. When aspects of the intervertebral discs expand both up and down, the intervertebral foramen shrinks. In this case, unpleasant sensations arise that come suddenly and occur more than once a month. Leaning back, the patient experiences back discomfort.
- Epidural abscess. Accumulation of pus in the spinal cord occurs due to infectious diseases of the urinary tract. In addition to pain, fever, weakness, and an increase in body temperature occur.
These are the causes - the consequences of diseases in the spinal cord.
The lower back can get sick due to the change in leg length of 2-3 cm. It's difficult for a person to move, a pain is felt in the back due to the constant curvature of the back.
Overload and physical fatigue
In addition to severe diseases, severe back pain is also due to large overloads and a sharp forward tilt of the trunk. Also, this problem arises when the effect of temperature on the body is violated. The sources of these pains are:
- Muscle extension. Deterioration of muscle extension in the lower back occurs due to physical overload. Muscle tightening causes pain and reduces mobility. This problem occurs in athletes and people who are engaged in intensive work.
- Neuralgia. Hypothermia of the spine leads to neuralgia - irritation or oppression of the nerves. The pathology manifests itself in different ways: sometimes in the form of seizures, accompanied by redness of the affected area, tremors, tissue edema and heavy sweating.
- Mioziti. Lumbar pain and discomfort start at night, as well as with a sudden increase, with a change in weather conditions, after hypothermia and overload.
Disorders of the internal organs
Sometimes it hurts in the lumbar area due to damage to other organs: heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, gallbladder. During inhalation, pain syndrome from the lumbar region varies along all nerve channels. Often the causes of this pathology are:
- Pyelonephritis. It is an infectious inflammation of the kidneys and urinary tract. Usually the pain is dull, but the attacks come with chills, weakness, nausea and vomiting, fever.
- Urolithiasis. The problem is revealed as a sudden sharp pain that becomes unbearable with long walks and hard work. The attack is accompanied by nausea, vomiting and blood in the urine.
- Ectopic pregnancy. If there is a rupture of the fallopian tube with a miscarriage, shooting pain occurs, radiating to the groin and rectum. The breakdown is accompanied by loss of consciousness and tubal abortion, a hematoma forms in the peritoneal cavity.
- Pelvioperitonitis. This is a transient inflammatory process of the uterine appendages. A woman has excruciating pain in her groin and back. In addition to existing unpleasant sensations, chills, fever and palpitations increase.
- Tumors of various origins. Cancer with metastases provokes painful attacks when pressure is exerted on nerve endings. Often, there are no initial signs of disease.
Lesions of the internal organs with periods of severe pain in the lower back are more difficult to diagnose. Therefore, you should immediately contact a specialist or call an ambulance. In some cases, delays can lead to serious health problems and even death.
Lower back pain is felt in almost all pregnant women. This is due to the restructuring of the body and an increase in the load on it. Also, hard or complicated work can be the cause.
Symptoms of Possible Diseases
Pain syndrome occurs most often against the background of a tight nerve, osteochondrosis, deformity and degenerative changes in the intervertebral discs, irritation of nerve roots. Muscle spasms can also cause back discomfort in the lumbar region. Characteristics of symptomatology for various diseases:
- With lumbago, changes begin in the lumbar vertebrae. At first, acute pain can be controlled with medication. However, mobility remains limited.
- With sciatica, the symptoms move down - to the upper surface of the legs and buttocks. If there is no timely treatment, then the disease becomes a constant companion and can cause other diseases.
- Osteochondrosis provokes the development of other diseases of the spine. Therefore, the pain can occur not only in the lower back, but also spread throughout the post.
- Scoliosis is characterized by skeletal curvature, degenerative changes. The chronic form may be asymptomatic, in other cases, there is a pain in the bone.
- Dull and attractive pains are typical of diseases of the internal organs (mainly of the genitourinary system and kidneys), benign and malignant tumors.
- With spondylitis, the pain is dull, aching, at first very weak. At the onset of the disease, it begins to ache in the lower back, movements become restricted. Gradually, the state of health deteriorates, inflammation becomes more pronounced, it becomes difficult to move, even minimal loads are difficult to deliver.
- In spinal tuberculosis, in addition to pain, body temperature rises. A person feels tired, weak, weak, appetite worsens. At night, there is heavy sweating, frequent urge to urinate.
Images
The pain can only be localized to one place or "spread" over the abdomen, spine and lower back. Symptoms are acute, in the form of lumbar, dull and painful surrounding. It depends on the disease or pathological process.
Pain may be intermittent. Usually this is due to physical activity, physiological characteristics, worsening of chronic pathologies. Persistent, chronic pain occurs against the background of various diseases of internal organs, with vascular lesions, deformity of the musculoskeletal system.
Sharp
Sharp, sharp pains and shooting lead to limited mobility. During such attacks, a person freezes in one position and cannot move. Even a slight urge increases the already unbearable pain. This syndrome is called lumbago. Such symptoms may occur after intensive massage or hypothermia.
Groaning
Pain aches accompany chronic diseases, often appearing with spondyloarthritis. Symptoms usually occur at night, immediately after waking up or after sitting for a long time in one position.
Attractive and dumb
These painful sensations can last for a long time, they tire the person. Most often they can be tolerated. Dull and attractive pains are uncommon for osteochondrosis, more so for spinal pathologies or damage to internal organs.
For example, with pyelonephritis, the kidney tissue swells a lot, the capsule stretches, which causes back pain.
Herpes
Symptoms may appear in one place and radiate throughout the peritoneal region, "spreading" along the back. The pain of the jinn affects the entire lower back. Without additional diagnosis, symptoms can be confused with diseases of the spine and joints. However, girdle pain usually causes pathology of internal organs.
Pain Localization
In ankylosing spondylitis, the symptoms appear mainly in the lower back. Basically, the pain occurs in the morning, it can even start late at night and gradually intensify, giving the lower back. Also, discomfort in the lower back accompanies diseases of the pelvic organs, tail injuries, urological and gynecological pathologies, with the threat of abortion, after birth.
In the upper part of the symptomatology it occurs with kyphosis, trauma, muscular myositis, osteochondrosis, infectious processes or tumors. Also, the cause may be pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract, gynecological, renal and heart diseases, pneumonia, pleurisy, influenza, ARVI.
Pain in the left or right side of the lower back occurs due to disorders of the central nervous system, diseases of the spine and internal organs. Symptoms will appear on the affected area. The appearance of negative sensations immediately in the left and right parts accompanies pleurisy, hepatitis, pneumonia, cholecystitis, inflammation of the prostate and in women - supplements.
Characteristics in women and men
Some types of pain can only occur in women. For example, with gynecological diseases. Adnexitis is characterized by the appearance of discomfort in the lower abdomen. In this case, the pain sometimes radiates to the lower back. During pregnancy, the primary symptomatology occurs in the groin area, and radiates to the lower back due to an increase in load on the spine. 
Low back pain occurs during childbirth, with the threat of abortion, in the late period of pregnancy.
Menopause can be the cause of back pain in the lumbar region when menstruation stops. The onset of symptoms in the lumbar region is affected by spikes in estrogen levels, circulatory disorders, the initial stage of osteochondrosis, hernias and other diseases of the spine. Pain also arises as a result of stress, to which women are more exposed than men. In this case, the symptoms are periodic.
In men, back pain is most often associated with professional activities, risks - great physical exertion, hypothermia, work on a draft. There are a number of diseases that provoke the appearance of negative symptoms in the lower back. With prostate, the pain initially appears in the anal area, but may radiate to the spine. Epididymitis is characterized by an inflammatory process. Initially, the pain appears in the groin area, then radiates to the lower back. At the same time, this is accompanied by an increase in temperature and swelling of the scrotum.
First Aid
What to do if lumbar pain appears spontaneously? The following steps should be taken immediately:
- Give your back an absolute break.
- Take a comfortable position, it is better to lie on a firm surface.
- You can put ice on the lower back, but before that put on fabric with folded cheese in 3-4 layers. This can only be done if the cause of the pain is not an organ infection.
- Apply a relaxing analgesic gel to the affected area.
- Take pain medication.
All of these activities will help to get rid of severe back pain quickly. But consultation and examination of specialists is necessary to identify the true cause of this attack and to prescribe adequate treatment.
What not to do
If there is a sudden back pain, doctors advise not to use heating oils and gels right away. They stimulate blood flow to the injured site, which contributes to an increase in swelling, and then an increase in pain. Before visiting a doctor or the arrival of an ambulance, it is completely and categorically excluded:
- Perform the exercises of your choice.
- Do not use a contrast bath while bathing in a sauna or steam bath.
- Drinking alcohol to relieve pain.
Only a doctor after examination and diagnosis has the right to prescribe treatment for a low back pain.
What to do next, which doctor should I see?
First you need to see a therapist. He performs an initial examination, prescribes the necessary tests and, with the results obtained, sends it to a close specialist - a traumatologist, surgeon, neuropathologist. If the pain is accompanied by a malignant formation, consultation with an oncologist is necessary. When pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract become the cause - a gastroenterologist, with gynecological diseases - a gynecologist, male - a urologist or proctologist.
Inspection and inspection
To find out why the lower back hurts, an initial visual examination is performed, followed by touch. With its help, you can determine the localization of the symptom. The patient describes the nature of the pain, the duration of the attacks, after which it may appear (fall, physical activity). Further, a series of studies have been conducted:
- Blood test. May indicate inflammation, presence of infection, tumors.
- Urine analysis. Allows you to rule out renal pathology. If the analysis is bad, an ultrasound is also prescribed.
- X-rays. Allows you to identify inflammatory processes, back diseases, injuries, cracks, fractures, embedded nerve. Ideally, a radiograph of the spine and pelvic bones is done.
- CT. Tomography is more informative than X-ray, it can show small defects, a 3D image is created. In this case, all the bone structures are clearly visible.
- MRI. Provides an opportunity to explore soft tissues inside or near the spine. At the same time, the condition of the spinal cord, nerve roots, ligaments, muscles is checked. Hernias and vascular changes are clearly visible.
However, CT and MRI are only shown for severe symptoms. Usually, an x-ray or ultrasound scan, laboratory blood and urine tests are sufficient.
Basic therapy
If low back pain is caused by problems with the spine, then the complex treatment of pathology is applied. It includes the following activities:
- organizing a friendly spine regime;
- performing manual therapy;
- application of therapeutic massage;
- physiotherapy and reflexology sessions: acupuncture, UHF and others;
- drug therapy: medication, ointment, blockade;
- wearing a special corset, if necessary;
- performing improvement gymnastics.
The main focus is drug therapy, which mainly aims to eliminate negative symptoms and relieve inflammation. As additional funds, physiotherapy, massage, exercise therapy are described. In severe cases, surgery may be required.
Medication treatment
Anti-inflammatory drugs are the first choice for back pain. They also relieve pain. Analgesics can be prescribed at the same time. Muscle relaxants are also prescribed. Chondroprotectors are prescribed to reduce degenerative processes in cartilage. To relieve pain, medication blockages are sometimes made on the basis of pain medication.
Day ointments and gels are grouped into the following types:
- Means based on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory ingredients.
- Preparations combined with anti-inflammatory effect and tissue cell regeneration.
- Anesthetic and irritating agents.
- Homeopathic remedies.
- Chondroprotectors that promote cartilage tissue recovery.
- Massage products (cosmetics).
It is important to know that these methods can relieve pain, but they can not cure the underlying cause. For example, damage to internal organs, if back pain appeared due to this reason. In this case, you should undergo an examination, and a specialist will prescribe an effective treatment for this particular pathology.
Exercise and massage
Exercise therapy (therapeutic gymnastics) and massage are recommended to strengthen the muscular frame of the back, to normalize blood circulation and to increase tone. Exercise prevents back and lumbar pain. The complex of exercise therapy is chosen individually. Massage strengthens the effectiveness of exercises, restores elasticity and flexibility of ligaments. Its combination with a bath or sauna can be allowed only with medical advice.
Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy methods are prescribed only after relieving acute attacks of low back pain. Then procedures help to reduce it or prevent it from getting worse. The following are used as physiotherapy:
- mud therapy;
- electrophoresis;
- balneotherapy;
- electrical muscle stimulation; phonophoresis
- (ultrasound);
- treatment with paraffin;
- reflexology;
- amplipulse therapy.
Procedures help reduce bloating, have an analgesic effect, improve blood circulation, relax muscles and normalize metabolic processes and lymphatic flow.
Surgical
An absolute indication for surgery is cauda equina syndrome, when urinary and fecal incontinence occurs and numbness appears in the perineum. Also, intervention is necessary if drug treatment is ineffective, back pain persists for more than six months and begins to radiate to the legs. Surgical operations are also performed in the presence of hernias.
Folk remedies
In addition, folk remedies can be used - infusions, decoctions of medicinal plants. Compresses are made (for example, from chopped onions, fresh burdock leaves, boiled potatoes with horseradish, mustard). Rubs with a solution of eucalyptus and burdock, warm honey, a mixture of cologne, red pepper, iodine and valerian are used. For internal use, a vodka tincture with saber or a decoction of wheat with coriander and milk is recommended.
Expert Recommendations
If the pain is felt for at least 3 months, it is considered acute pain. The following tips will help you speed up the healing of acute low back pain and reduce its intensity:
- It is important to give the patient absolute rest for 2-3 days. You should go to bed and take a comfortable position: lie on your side and place a pillow between your knees, or lie on your back and place a pillow under your knees. You can not be immobile all day - it is recommended to get out of bed every 2-3 hours and warm up for 10-15 minutes.
- If pain cannot be tolerated, pain relievers and anti-inflammatory medications should be taken regularly. Taking them only when the pain increases, you may not achieve the desired effect. Taking a warm shower every 3 hours or applying a warm pillow for 10-15 minutes, or even cold, helps - it improves blood circulation, reduces pain and inflammation.
When you feel better, you should gradually return to your normal way of life. Prolonged lying in bed contributes to muscle atrophy and this exacerbates the disease. You can train your body by walking or walking on the simulator - this is the simplest exercise for back pain.
If low back pain is not an independent disease, then it is a consequence of a serious illness that is present in the body. Therefore, you should immediately contact a medical institution to identify the pathology and competent treatment.