Low back pain is a surprisingly common pain. It affects nearly everyone at some time in their life. Back pain affects men and women uniformly and commonly develops between the ages of 30 and 50. It is also known as lumbago. A lot of these cases resolve of their own accord. On the other hand, about 10% to 20% will develop into major chronic and/or recurrent episodes of back pain.
What are the causes of low back pain ?
The most common causes of low back pain are aging or leading sedentary lifestyles. The other causes of low back pain could be wear and tear conditions such as degenerative arthritis and degenerative disc diseases. Low back joint restrictions, muscle pulls and tears may also cause low back pain, but typically the symptoms from muscular causes are brief. Aggravating conditions include weak muscles, poor flexibility and poor posture.
There are some conditions linked to back pain. These include the following.
- Slipped discs : When the soft material inside an intervertebral disc bulges or ruptures, this presses and compresses the spinal nerve. This condition is called sciatica if the sciatic nerve is compressed.
- Degenerative disc disease : This occurs with ageing. Intervertebral discs lose their integrity and their cushioning ability.
- Spondylolisthesis : This occurs when a vertebra slips out of place and starts to pinch a nerve.
- Spinal stenosis : This is a narrowing of the spinal column pressurizes the spinal cord and nerves.
What are the risk factors that contribute to low back pain ?
There are some risk factors that can increase your chances of developing low back pain. These include the following.
- Ageing
- Being overweight or obese
- Smoking
- Fitness
- Pregnancy
- Occupation
- Suffering from mental illness
What are the symptoms of low back pain ?
Back pain is most widespread in the lumbar (lower back) region, even though it can be felt anywhere along your spine, from your neck down to your hips. The symptoms of back pain include to the following.
- Muscle ache and back spasms.
- Tension, soreness and stiffness in the back.
- Pain that runs up and down your legs.
- A limited flexibility of the back.
- A minor twinge to being majorly painful.
- A kind of dull, constant ache to a sudden, sharp pain that makes moving difficult.
- A pain that starts if you lift something heavy.
What should you do when you have low back pain ?
It is advisable to inquire about treatment early on for low back pain to let you manage it correctly. Otherwise, it is more likely to continue. For instance, if you see a physiotherapist speedily, this can pace up your recovery and can also avert the problem from happening again.
What tests are available for low back pain ?
There are certain investigative tests that help determine the cause of your back pain. The most common diagnostic tests include the following.
- X-ray : It can show your bone alignment and if you have arthritis, broken or displaced bones or even a tumor.
- CT scan : It can show the complete cross section images of the bones in your spine and can expose herniated discs or problems with bones, muscles, tissue, tendons, nerves, ligaments and blood vessels.
- MRI scan : MRIs are often used to precisely diagnose spinal disorders and to rule out spinal infections or tumors.
What are the probable diagnosis of back pain ?
Back pain is commonly diagnosed due to any of the following reasons.
- Either spinal muscle or ligament strain – often caused by repetitive heavy lifting or abrupt awkward movements.
- Bulging or ruptured disks – the inner core of the disc may rupture and leak out, irritating a nearby nerve root, known as sciatica in case the sciatic nerve is irritated.
- Vertebrae slippage – This can causes nerve compression.
- Arthritis – Degeneration like osteoarthritis can lead to a narrowing of the space around the spinal cord, known as spinal stenosis.
- Abnormal spine curves – such as scoliosis where your spine curves to the side or kyphosis when your spine curves forward.
- Osteoporosis – when your vertebrae become permeable and brittle and can more easily develop pathologic fractures.
When should you decide to go in for a surgery for your lower back pain ?
The therapies you should try for backache should always be non-surgical first. You can alleviate your back pain by ice (cold), heat therapy, spinal injections, physiotherapy, and oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs) medications. Regular exercise relieves back pain to a great degree and can prevent it from returning as well. Only if you have a serious spinal cord injury, degenerative spinal disease, a spinal tumor, trouble walking or in bowel movement will your surgeon recommend back surgery. This is also applicable if you’ve tried other treatments first but with no result.
What are the types of surgery available for low back pain ?
When the pain becomes chronic, non-surgical options have to be tried first. These include physiotherapy (like exercise programmes, acupuncture, manipulation and massage) and pain injections. If these do not succeed, only then your doctor will recommend surgery. Surgery for lower back pain is done by a spine surgeon. A lower back surgery is also called lumbar spine surgery. Sometimes back surgery is done to alleviate pressure on a compressed nerve, to stabilize adjacent vertebrae or to improve a scoliosis deformity.
- Disc replacement surgery : Disc replacement surgery (also known as arthroplasty) involves putting prosthesis to substitute a herniated intervertebral disc, in such a way that the mobility of the spine is retained. The basis of the procedure is the replacement of a degenerating or diseased intervertebral disc with an artificial disc in adults with degenerative disc disease (DDD) in either the lumbar (back) or cervical (neck) region of the spine.
- Spinal decompression surgery : This is a surgery to give the nerve root more space. It works by opening or widening the bony vertebral canals via which the spinal cord and nerves pass, thus making more space for them to move freely. It can be performed by at least one of these procedures: discectomy, laminectomy and foraminotomy.
A. Diskectomy surgery: This procedure involves the removal of herniated/prolapsed disc material that is pressing on your nerve in the spine. A diskectomy removes a portion of a damaged disk. Traditionally it was done by open surgery but these days it is done by a minimally invasive technique called microdiscectomy with a surgical microscope.
B. Laminectomy surgery : This is removal of a section of bone from one of your vertebrae that’s compressing a nerve in your spine. This helps relieve the pressure when a disk bulges into a nerve. If needed, your surgeon can also remove any part of a disk or bone spur that presses on a nerve.
C. Foraminotomy surgery : This is the surgical removal of bone that surrounds the neural foramen – which is the canal where the nerve root makes its exit from the spine. This is recommended when disc degeneration causes the bony foramen to cave in and pinch a nerve. - Spine fusion surgery : In some cases, spinal fusion is done along with spinal decompression (or laminectomy) to aid in stabilizing sections of the spine corrected by surgery. Spinal fusion is a technique done for neck or back pain that fuses (or unites) two or more vertebral bodies in the spinal column. The reason why it is done is to restrict spinal motion in order to ease painful symptoms.
How to find and reach spine surgeons for low back pain surgery ?
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Find, reach and choose a spine surgeon for low back pain surgery on Hinfoways. Make an informed choice.
Disclaimer: The content provided here is meant for general informational purposes only and hence SHOULD NOT be relied upon as a substitute for sound professional medical advice, care or evaluation by a qualified doctor/physician or other relevantly qualified healthcare provider.
