Back Pains Causes and Treatment

Muscle Strains/Sprains will be the normal cause for back pain. Sometimes you will remember when you got the muscle strain and mostly you may not remember also. If the back pain is due to muscle strain/sprain, the pain will vanish within a few days.

Normally, back pains will vanish within a few days with application of some pain balm or taking in some pain-killer tablet. You have to take extra care for your back pain in the following cases if your back pain:-

• Persists beyond a few days
• Awakens you at night
• Causes difficulty in controlling your bowels or bladder
• Causes a fever, chills, sweats, or other signs of infection
• Causes any other unusual symptoms

Treatment for Back Pain:-

• Anti-Inflammatory Medications:- Anti-inflammatory medications, or NSAIDs, will be helpful in the treatment of your back pain and inflammation.

• Heat Application/Massage:- Applications of heat or Infra-red rays will help to reduce back pain. You can use heating pad, hot water bottles, or take a hot bath. Infra-red rays treatment also will be helpful in pain relief. Massage of the affected back also will help in pain relief.

• Exercises:- Simple Exercises will strengthen the muscles and help in pain relief.

• Muscle Relaxers:- Muscle relaxing medications will be helpful in the treatment of some types of back pain.

• Physio-therapy:- Physio- Therapy for Back Pain include , exercises, Aquatherapy, Ultrasound and Electrical Stimulation.

• Epidural Steroid Injections:- Epidural steroid injections will be given for the back pain treatment and inflammation around the spinal nerves. An epidural steroid injection is performed using an X-ray to guide the medication to the area adjacent to the inflamed spinal nerve.

• Spinal Surgery:-

When the normal treatments and medications do not give relief to back pain, Spinal Surgery will be done as last resort.

The following are some types of Spinal Surgery:-

• Discectomy:-Discectomy is a surgery to remove a portion of the disc that rests between each vertebrae. A herniated disc will be the most common reason for spinal surgery. In Discectomy the herniated disc will be removed to relieve the pressure on the nerves.

• Foramenotomy:- Foramenotomy is a surgery wherein the nerve is being pinched by more than just herniated disc. Foramenotomy removes a portion of bone and other tissue which will be compressing the nerve.

• Laminectomy:- Laminectomy is a surgery to relieve pressure on the spinal cord. Laminectomy is mostly used to treat conditions such as spinal stenosis and spondylolisthesis. Depending on the amount of bone removed, this procedure will be done with a spinal fusion to prevent instability.

• Spinal Fusion:- Spinal Fusion is a surgery done to eliminate motion between adjacent vertebrae. The spinal fusion will be done to treat a problem such as spondylolisthesis/unstable spine, or in addition to Laminectomy.

• Spinal Disc Replacement:- Spinal disc replacement is a new and a rare surgery. Spinal disc replacement is done to treat specific types of back pain, for avoiding the problems associated with spinal fusion surgery.

Related reading: “Tips to Reduce Back Pain”