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How Do You Know If Back Pain Is Serious

Spinal Cord Stimulator Treatment

How To Know If Your Lower Back Pain Is Serious?- Ask A Physio

For agonizing back pain, you might need to look for other measures as well. You can find Spinal cord stimulator treatment in Coimbatore to get relief from sudden or sharp back pain. This method uses an implanted device possessing a low-level electric charge to the spinal cord to relieve pain.

One of the finest treatments being practiced by a myriad of doctors to help patients to eradicate spinal cord pain. This procedure is used when most non-surgical methods are unsuccessful to provide adequate relief.

More Advanced Care Options

Surgery When other therapies fail, surgery may be considered to relieve pain caused by worsening nerve damage, serious musculoskeletal injuries, or nerve compression. Specific surgeries are selected for specific conditions/indications. However, surgery is not always successful. It may be months following surgery before the person is fully healed and there may be permanent loss of flexibility. Surgical options include:

Implanted nerve stimulators

  • Spinal cord stimulation uses low-voltage electrical impulses from a small implanted device that is connected to a wire that runs along the spinal cord. The impulses are designed to block pain signals that are normally sent to the brain.
  • Dorsal root ganglion stimulation also involves electrical signals sent along a wire connected to a small device that is implanted into the lower back. It specifically targets the nerve fibers that transmit pain signals. The impulses are designed to replace pain signals with a less painful numbing or tingling sensation.
  • Peripheral nerve stimulation also uses a small implanted device and an electrode to generate and send electrical pulses that create a tingling sensation to provide pain relief.

How To Know When Back Pain Is Muscular

If youve ever suffered from aches and pains in your back, youre not alone: According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, 75 to 85 percent of Americans experience back pain at some point in their lives.

But knowing whats causing your pain can be challenging. The most common complaint is what we characterize as non-specific low back pain, which means we havent identified a specific underlying source for why that individual has back pain, says Craig Van Dien, M.D., a sports medicine and physical medicine and rehabilitation physician at JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute. In most cases, this is muscle-based pain or a muscle strain.

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Complementary And Alternative Techniques Include:

  • Acupuncture is moderately effective for chronic low back pain. It involves inserting thin needles into precise points throughout the body and stimulating them , which may cause the body to release naturally occurring painkilling chemicals such as endorphins, serotonin, and acetylcholine.
  • Behavioral approaches include:
  • Biofeedback involves attaching electrodes to the skin and using an electromyography machine that allows people to become aware of and control their breathing, muscle tension, heart rate, and skin temperature people regulate their response to pain by using relaxation techniques
  • Cognitive therapy involves using relaxation and coping techniques to ease back pain
  • Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation involves wearing a battery-powered device which places electrodes on the skin over the painful area that generate electrical impulses designed to block or modify the perception of pain
  • Physical therapy programs to strengthen core muscle groups that support the low back, improve mobility and flexibility, and promote proper positioning and posture are often used in combination with other interventions
  • Spinal injections include:Trigger point injections can relax knotted muscles that may contribute to back pain. An injection or series of injections of a local anesthetic and often a corticosteroid drug into the trigger point can lessen or relieve pain.

    You Were In A Car Accident

    When Should I Take Back Pain Seriously?

    Weve probably all be there: were in a minor fender-bender or some small impact car accident. We may feel a bit jarred, but our body feels fine. So we just continue on. In most cases, things turn out okay. However, it is important to know that a seemingly small injury can indeed worsen over time especially injuries to the neck or back.

    Conditions that may arise from a car accident include:

    Back and neck injuries: including disc injuries, spine injuries, fractures, and sprains

    Soft tissue injuries: including bruising, sprains, and tearing torn ligaments, muscles, and tendons.

    Whiplash: symptoms include back and neck pain, headaches, and tinnitus

    It is therefore recommended that if youre in a car accident and you feel any pain that you are checked out by a doctor. Ignoring back pain can lead to serious and often unnecessary complications.

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    Stiffness In The Morning

    Its not always easy to get out of bed, but excessive morning back pain and stiffness could be a sign of spinal arthritis. Most types of arthritis including osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis cause pain and stiffness that worsen toward the end of the day and after periods of rest, like a night’s sleep.

    Any part of the spine can become arthritic, but the lower back , is most commonly affected. Thankfully, there are ways to manage the condition. Once diagnosed using a physical exam and x-ray imaging, spinal arthritis can be treated with pain medication and physical therapy. Surgery is needed in rare cases.

    Protect yourself before it’s too late. Getting regular exercise, maintaining a healthy body weight, practicing good posture and doing your best to avoid spinal injury all decrease your risk for spinal arthritis and other back-related issues.

    Never Mind A Month Ive Had Backache For Years

    Being in pain for that long takes its toll. The advice is to have an assessment that takes into account the physical, psychological and social impact of the pain. Your path back to living life to the full may include talking therapies, acupuncture, injections, stronger painkillers and surgery. Recent research suggest a course of antibiotics may help, but further work is needed.

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    Top 7 Most Serious Causes Of Back Pain

    Approximately 80% of adults in the United States will suffer from back pain at some point. Fortunately, most of the time that pain is due to a straightforward problem such as a herniated disc or degenerative disease in the spine. These problems are bothersome, and can even be dangerous if too much time is allowed to pass, but they are not considered a medical emergency.

    On the other hand, anytime back pain is associated with weakness or loss of bladder or bowel control, it should be considered an emergency that requires immediate treatment. These symptoms can suggest compression of the spinal cord or cauda equina. Moreover, sometimes back pain can be a sign of more significant trouble. Here are some of the most serious causes of back pain that both doctors and patients must be careful not to miss.

    How To Tell If Your Lower Back Pain Is Muscle

    Low Back Pain – How to Know if My Back Pain Serious

    by Dr. Don DuffAug 20, 2019

    The low back is a fairly complicated structure, so its no wonder the majority of peopleexperts estimate up to 80% of usexperience pain in this area of our bodies at some point in our lives. In fact, back pain is one of the most common reasons for visits to the doctors office.

    The key to relieving back pain is understanding the cause. But diagnosing the of a patients pain isnt always a straightforward exercise. It could be muscle, joint, or disc-related in some cases, it may even arise from issues unrelated to the back. So how can you tell if your back pain is muscle- or disc-related, or attributable to something else entirely? Well cover all the possibilities in this post.

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    Top 20 Omicron Symptoms:

    • Swollen glands
    • Feeling down

    And an emergency physician-in-chief at the New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center said they are seeing symptoms lasted for three to five days for most people.

    He said they are more mild in vaccinated people, with those suffering the most largely unvaccinated.

    Dr Rahul Sharma said: “A lot of these patients are not having the symptoms for the 10 to 12 days that I saw when there were no vaccinations.

    “What I can tell you is that patients that are unvaccinated are definitely our sicker patients.

    “Those are the patients that are more likely to go to the ICU. Those are the patients that are more likely to be admitted to the hospital.”

    What Are The Warning Signs Of A Serious Problem

    Very rarely back pain or pain that travels down the leg is a sign of a serious problem.

    If you have any of the following symptoms, you should seek urgent medical attention:

    • difficulty controlling or passing urine
    • loss of control of your bowels
    • numbness around your back passage or your genitals
    • serious weakness in your legs so you find standing really difficult
    • severe and ongoing back pain that gets worse over several weeks.

    The above symptoms could potentially be linked to a rare but serious condition that needs urgent medical attention.

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    When To Go To The Doctor

    You cant always assume the discomfort is no big deal. If pain lingers for more than a few days or requires regular pain medications you should be evaluated by your physician, says assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery and physical medicine and rehabilitation, Dr Leda Ghannad. Another sign: if the pain limits your abilities in your day-to-day life, like you have to call off work to stay in bed.

    How Do I Know If My Upper Back Pain Is Serious

    Know your Back Pain !!  JaipurRehab

    If you have upper and middle back pain without any other symptoms, then probably you will be able to manage your symptoms at home. Over-the-counterpain medications and heat or ice packs may relieve your symptoms. If back pain starts after you make a wrong move lifting or twisting and it then goes away within 72 hours of treatment, there is nothing to worry about. However, if the pain appears immediately or does not go away, it might indicate a severe underlying condition.

    Your back pain may indicate a severe underlying medical condition if

    • Pain becomes too intense and starts to affect your daily activities.
    • You have a fever along with pain.
    • Pain that starts immediately after a fall, an accident or a sports injury.
    • Pain lingers for more than a few days and requires regular pain medications.
    • You have severe pain in the side and back below your ribs.
    • You have pain along with numbness or weakness in your arms or legs.
    • You have numbness or tingling in your arms, legs, chest or belly.
    • Pain radiates to one or both legs, especially, if the pain extends below the knee.
    • You have unexplained weight loss.

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    Persistent Low Back Pain

    Nonspecific low back pain is classed as chronic if it lasts for longer than six weeks. In some people it lasts for months, or even years. Symptoms may be constant. However, the more usual pattern is one in which symptoms follow an irregular course. That is, reasonably long periods of mild or moderate pain may be interrupted by bouts of more severe pain.

    Signs Your Back Pain May Be Something More Serious

    Back pain is a common problem, affecting 80 percent of people at some point in their lives. But not everyone’s discomfort is the same and some signs and symptoms are more troubling than others.

    Garden-variety back pain is often the result of a strain, which occurs when muscles or tendons in the back are overworked. Such small injuries account for a majority of cases of back-related discomfort.

    Back pain that’s severe or persists for several weeks, on the other hand, should be evaluated by a doctor. Wayne Kelley, MD, a spine surgeon in Macon, Georgia, notes that back pain that crops up with other symptoms such as bowel or bladder problems or progressive neurological changes, like sudden or severe headaches or vision problems also require immediate attention.

    Here, Dr. Kelley offers his expert insights on which types of back pain and related symptoms may be indicators of significant spinal conditions that require medical attention.

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    Loss Of Bladder Or Bowel Control

    “When you can’t empty your bladder or you can’t go to the bathroom, those are urgent things that require immediate medical attention, Kelley says.

    Bladder or bowel incontinence may be signs of nerve compression caused by a ruptured disk. If left untreated, nerve compression can lead to permanent neurological damage.

    The Pain Is Persistent

    How to know if your back pain is serious

    If your discomfort remains active for more than a few days or requires the constant use of pain medicine, its advisable to be seen by a doctor. Continuous pressure around the sensitive nerves can cause fluid buildup. In turn, the nerves can become permanently damaged. Additional symptoms, such as worsened pain, scarring, and swelling, may also arise.

    In time, severe spinal pain can impose lifestyle limitations. It may become challenging to do light activity, including what were once enjoyable activities.

    Eventually, long-term pressure on the neck may also induce neck pain and vice-versa. Other severe conditions that may result from severe uncorrected back pain include cervical arthritis, headaches, respiratory complications, and vertebral bone spurs.

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    The Big Three Signs That You Should Investigate For An Ominous Cause Of Persistent Low Back Pain

    You shouldnt worry about low back pain until three conditions have been met:

  • its been bothering you for more than about 6 weeks19
  • its severe and/or not improving, or actually getting worse
  • there is at least one other red flag
  • The presence of the big three does not confirm that something horrible is going on. It only means that you need to check carefully.

    Andy Whitfield as Spartacus

    At his physical peak, not long before getting sick. The first sign of his cancer was steadily worsening back pain. He may have already been in pain at this time.

    The story of actor Andy Whitfield is a disturbing and educational example of a case that met these conditions for sure the first two, and probably the third as well if we knew the details. Whitfield was the star of the hit TV show Spartacus . The first sign of the cancer that killed him in 2011 was steadily worsening back pain. Its always hard to diagnose a cancer that starts this way, but Whitfield was in the middle of intense physical training to look the part of historys most famous gladiator. Back pain didnt seem unusual at first, and some other symptoms may have been obscured. Weight loss could have even seemed like a training victory at first! It was many long months before he was diagnosed not until the back pain was severe and constant. A scan finally revealed a large tumour pressing against his spine.

    Is back pain a symptom of COVID-19?

    Leg Pain And Weakness

    Pain that originates in the lower back and travels down the legs also known as sciatica may signal a serious problem. Kelley says culprits may include a herniated disk or spinal stenosis. Both conditions cause the space around the spinal nerves to narrow, which may result in nerve pain and irritation.

    Like back pain, pain through the back of your legs may be dull or severe and can come in quick bursts, worsened by coughing or sneezing. Discomfort caused by a herniated disk typically travels down one side of the body. Pain from spinal stenosis typically affects both legs, sometimes in their entirety.

    Like back pain, pain through the back of your legs may be dull or severe and can come in quick bursts, worsened by coughing or sneezing. Discomfort caused by a herniated disk typically travels down one side of the body. Pain from spinal stenosis typically affects both legs, sometimes in their entirety. Most pain caused by sciatica or a herniated disk will improve within six to eight weeks without surgery. But if pain in the arms or legs lasts longer than a week, becomes severe or is accompanied by muscle weakness or difficulty controlling your bowels or bladder, seek immediate medical attention.

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    What Is Serious Back Pain

    In this blog, when I say serious back pain, I mean back pain that requires a visit to a doctor.

    The severity of your symptoms is not the only indicator as to whether your lower back pain is serious. For example, pain from a pulled lower back muscle can be intense, but it will typically subside after a few days of basic at-home care.

    See Pulled Back Muscle and Lower Back Strain

    In contrast, lumbar degenerative disc disease can cause a moderate, dull ache in the lower backthis kind of pain is not necessarily intense, but it may get worse over time without treatment. In these cases, a physician can recommend a long-term treatment plan.

    See Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease Treatment

    The 9 Embarrassing Side Effects Of Covid

    Lower Right Back Pain Causes

    “It will be interesting to see if this changes when schools go back.

    “It shows that the restrictions, social distancing, possibly mask wearing has had a greater effect on colds and flu than Omicron, which is even better at infecting us.

    “It does suggest that these symptoms are of shorter duration than they are of Delta.

    “People are having symptoms for a shorter amount of time, especially in that first week.

    “If people are testing negative with lateral flow tests at the end of those five days because the whole period of that infection and getting over it appears to be faster.”

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    A Weakness Of The Legs

    If, after lifting something heavy, you feel that discomfort accompanied by weakness or numbness of the legs, you could have a herniated disc. Herniated discs, also commonly referred to as slipped discs or a slipped disc can lead to severe complications if left untreated.

    The discomfort of the upper back and neck and weakness of the legs also links to arthritis.

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