Back Pain: Causes and Treatment

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What is Back Pain?

Back pain is pain felt in the back that usually originates from the muscles, nerves, bones, joints or other structures in the spine.

Back pain may have a sudden onset or can be a chronic pain; it can be constant or intermittent, stay in one place or radiate to other areas. It may be a dull ache, or a sharp or piercing or burning sensation. The pain may radiate into the arms and hands as well as the legs or feet, and may include symptoms other than pain. These symptoms may include tingling, weakness or numbness.

What Causes Back Pain?

First of all, it is important to understand that back pain is a symptom of a medical condition and not a diagnosis itself.

For most people with back pain, a specific cause can’t be found. However, the most common cause of low back pain is muscle or ligament strains. If back pain comes on suddenly, it’s usually a sign of a muscle tear, sprained ligament, or disc problem.

Certain medical conditions such as osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, ankylosing spondylitis, spinal stenosis, gallbladder disease, stomach problems cause back pain can cause back pain.

Pregnancy can also cause back pain because of the extra body weight, changes in muscle and ligament firmness, and because the baby’s head can compress the mother’s spinal nerves.

Obesity is also another cause of back pain because overweight people tend to have poorer posture as well as the extra strain that increased body weight places on discs and muscle.

Management of Back Pain:

• Heat therapy is useful for back spasms or other conditions. A study showed that heat therapy can reduce symptoms of acute and sub-acute low-back pain. Cold compression therapy (e.g. ice or cold pack application) may be effective at relieving back pain in some cases.

• Use of medications in chronic back pain is can be beneficial. The short term use of muscle relaxants is effective in the relief of acute back pain. Opioids have not always been shown to be better than placebo for chronic back pain when the risks and benefits are considered. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been shown to be more effective than placebo, and are usually more effective than paracetamol (acetaminophen).

• Back schools appear to improve pain as compared to standard treatments.

• Massage may help for those who have had a relatively long period of low back pain. Acupressure or pressure point massage may be more beneficial than classic (Swedish) massage.^[30]

Depending on the particular cause of the condition, posture training courses and physical exercises might help with relieving the pain.

• Exercises can be an effective approach to reducing pain, but should be done under supervision of a licensed health professional.

• Acupuncture has some proven benefit for back pain.
• Education and attitude adjustment to focus on psychological or emotional causes - respondent-cognitive therapy and progressive relaxation therapy can reduce chronic pain.

Surgery

Surgery is usually the last resort in the treatment of back pain. It is usually only recommended if all other treatment options have been tried and failed or in an emergency situation.