Lower back pain is common around four out of every five people experience back pain at some point in their lives. Some people will be able to identify a trigger for their back pain, like doing some heavy lifting or a sporting injury, but for many, low back pain can seem to come out of nowhere. Back pain can be incredibly debilitating. It can stop people from going to work and make simple things like going out with friends into a miserable experience. But the good news is that most back pain gets better with time. So when should we worry about back pain? Well, the causes of back pain can be divided into two broad categories:
(1). Musculoskeletal
(2). Pathological back pain.
Pathological means that an underlying disease process causes the pain. Our lower back is a complex structure. It is made up of –
- Bones
- Muscles
- .Nerves
- .Other tissues.
That works together to help us move. The bones of the back are called vertebrae. These vertebrae are stacked on top of one another to form the spinal column. In between these bones are spinal discs that act as shock absorbers the bones to move each other within the spinal column is the spinal cord.
This is a thick bundle of nerves that has a direct connection with our brain. From this thick cord are small nerves that have to squeeze through tight spaces between each vertebra to reach our muscles and organs. The spinal column is held together by ligaments,tendons, and muscles that allow u to bend forward, backward, and side to side. Muscular skeletal back pain is caused by a strain of one of the many joints, ligaments, tendons, discs,and muscles in our lower back.
Because of the number of nerves that run through the lower back, even a slight injury to these structures can cause excruciating pain, and because these structures are so close to one another. It can be difficult to
Pinpoint. The exact source of the injury. Musculoskeletal back pain is the most common form of back pain and perhaps surprisingly the type that doctors worry the least about. This is because the majority of muscular scale. Little back pain will improve with physiotherapy, pain medications, and most importantly time. A physical therapist even finds muscular or posture imbalance that you may be able to correct with stretches and exercises.
1.The first sign that makes doctors worry about back pain: the duration of pain. You see the thing that doctors are most about are the pathological causes of back pain. This includes conditions like infection, cancer, fractures, autoimmunity, and nerve damage. Overall, these conditions only account for about 1% of people seeing a family doctor for back pain.
But are important not to be missed, so the job of your doctor is to distinguish these conditions from musculoskeletal back pain. If back pain persists beyond 6 weeks, then this could be a sign that there could be
Something more than a back strain at play.
2.The second sign that makes doctors worry is a progressive escalation in severity of pain with musculoskeletal back pain. Many people will experience fluctuating symptoms. On some days the back can feel quite good, but on another  day it can feel worse. Pain from pathological conditions does not behave this way. Once a problem has
Occurred, it continues to stay that way and usually get worse. So pain that turns up and then continues to escalate over time is a sign that there could be an underlying disease process.
3.The third sign is fever or night sweat that accompanies back pain, although infections that cause back pain are rare. They can occur in people who use injecting drugs. Who are taking immuno suppressive medications or those who live in areas where infections like tuberculosis are common.
4. People over the age of 50 who have developed new back pain with increasing age problems like cancer and fractures become more likely; in particular, women over the age of 50 experience significant reduction in
Bone density after menopause, putting them at a higher risk of fracture.
5. Doctors worry about back pain that is associated with unexplained and unintentional weight loss that is because weight loss can be a side effect of cancer. Cancer is uncontrolled growth of cells, so these cells can suck up energy and cause people to lose weight. Some cancer will start in the spine, while others, like prostate cancer, can start elsewhere and then travel to the spine.
6. People who experience severe spine stiffness. This can be a sign of an autoimmune condition called Ankylosing spondylitis that causes fusion of the vertebrae and leads to restriction in spine movement. This condition can make lifevery difficult over time. So it is important for doctors to diagnose it as early as possible.
7. Doctors worry is evidence of nerve injury in severe situations this can include symptoms like urinary incontinence, constipation, and numbness around the genitals and buttocks. In less severe situations, there may be changes in lower leg and weakness in leg movements. These signs indicate that the complex web of nerve fibers that run inside and around the spinal canal. Now may have been injured somewhere along their path; this could be due to a disk bulge pushing on a nerve root, or in severe cases, compression of the spinal cord with a bulging disc. Often physical therapy is tried first, but in compression of the spinal cord, urgent surgery is required. One thing to remember is that these signs are not indicative of serious back pain. In fact, research shows that some of these times signs have a high false positive rate. So if you do have one or more of these signs, stay calm and get a checkup from your healthcare
Physio360therapy team.
