How To Manage Chronic Lower Back Pain

Yoga Pilates And Tai Chi Seem To Help But Its Not Clear That Theyre Any Better Than Other Exercise

Theres lots of research on back pain and yoga. Not all of it is high-quality, but taken together, the evidence pretty uniformly suggests yoga can both decrease pain and improve back-related function.

The most recent Cochrane systematic review on yoga and chronic low back pain, published in 2017, sums up the results of the best available studies, which mostly focused on the Iyengar, Hatha, or Viniyoga forms of yoga:

There is low- to moderate-certainty evidence that yoga compared to non-exercise controls results in small to moderate improvements in back-related function at three and six months. Yoga may also be slightly more effective for pain at three and six months, however the effect size did not meet predefined levels of minimum clinical importance.

So again, this isnt an end-all treatment but the evidence we have points in the direction of a benefit.

Importantly, the review authors also noted that its not clear whether yoga is better than other exercises, since there were few head-to-head comparisons tracking yoga against other kinds of workouts.

For Pilates, the evidence was a little more mixed: It was associated with small or no effects on pain and no effects on function compared with other types of exercise. Again, though, pretty much every back expert I spoke to said any exercise is better than no exercise, so if Pilates is something you enjoy, do it.

*a Note On The Methods For This Installment Of Show Me The Evidence

Theres a mountain of research on low back pain. So I zeroed in on the highest-quality evidence: systematic reviews. These are syntheses of the research evidence that bring together all the highest-quality studies to come to more fully supported conclusions.

I found the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality , a federal agency that crunches the best available data on the effectiveness of health care interventions and had recently published a comprehensive 800-page systematic review of research on noninvasive treatments for low back pain. The AHRQ review covered 156 of the best back pain studies from 2008 to April 2015. I then searched for low back painrelated systematic reviews on PubMed Health, the government search engine that specializes in systematic reviews and meta-analyses, to cover the recent period left out of the AHRQ review .

To make sure I wasnt missing anything, I consulted the chronic and acute low back pain articles on UpToDate, , the Cochrane Library of systematic reviews, and guidelines.gov, and sometimes followed the footnotes in these reviews to other studies. Ramins book Crookedwas also an excellent source for thinking on back pain. Finally, I conducted interviews with nine back pain doctors and researchers, including authors of many of the systematic reviews referenced here.

Correction: A previous version of this article referred to John Sarnos medical specialty as psychiatry. Instead, it was rehabilitation medicine.

Everyday Tips For Chronic Back Pain

Your back pain could get better, and soon. There are many treatments that could help, from physical therapy to small but strategic changes in your daily routine. Even your breathing might make a difference!

First, ask your doctor what might be the cause of your back pain and how to treat it. They might recommend physical therapy or occupational therapy.

Next, add in these nine everyday habits:

1. Use your breath. When the pain kicks in, itâs easy to tense up. Instead, try to breathe deeply. You may want to visualize the breath going to the area that hurts. This will help you relax. You can also try other stress management techniques, including meditation.

2. Rethink your good days. Itâs great to feel better. But you may feel tempted to do a lot of stuff to make up for the times you werenât able to. So ask yourself, “Are my goals realistic?” Pace yourself. Itâs one of the keys to getting things done without a pain backlash.

3. Challenge yourself physically. Are you taking it too easy? If you think that you canât be active because of your back pain, thatâs understandable but misguided. Activity helps — as long as itâs not too hard, too long, or too much. Exercises that strengthen your back and abdominal muscles can help prevent injury. Ask your doctor or physical therapist whatâs best for you.

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Chronic Lower Back And Hip Pain: Causes & Reliefs

Are you experiencing pain in the lower back or pain in the hips? Some may tend to experience both symptoms at once. This condition is known as the combination symptom syndrome. Actually, the factors leading to the pain in the hips are usually related to those that cause the pain that occurred in the lower back. The combination of both is terrible and difficult, and can greatly affect the persons action and mobility. Read on and learn more about these symptoms for better guidance and knowledge.

What Are The Treatments For Lower Back Pain

Lower back pain usually gets better with rest, ice and over-the-counter pain relievers. After a few days of rest, you can start to get back to your normal activities. Staying active increases blood flow to the area and helps you heal.

Other treatments for lower back pain depend on the cause. They include:

• Medications: Your provider may recommend nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or prescription drugs to relieve pain. Other medications relax muscles and prevent back spasms.
• Physical therapy : PT can strengthen muscles so they can support your spine. PT also improves flexibility and helps you avoid another injury.
• Hands-on manipulation: Several hands-on treatments can relax tight muscles, reduce pain and improve posture and alignment. Depending on the cause of pain, you may need osteopathic manipulation or chiropractic adjustments. Massage therapy can also help with back pain relief and restore function.
• Injections: Your provider uses a needle to inject medication into the area thats causing pain. Steroid injections relieve pain and reduce inflammation.
• Surgery: Some injuries and conditions need surgical repair. There are several types of surgery for low back pain, including many minimally invasive techniques.

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In Order To Understand These Changes We Need To Understand How Pain Works

Usually pain is there for a reason. Something sharp grazes your leg, and that part of your skin sends a message to your brain saying Hey, what does this mean? I think its sharp, what should we do about it?

Your brain then compares that sensation to previous experience. If youve injured yourself before after grazing against a sharp fence, your brain recognises the similar sensation and sends a message back down to your leg saying: Danger! Move the leg away to prevent injury!. How does it do this? By making something hurt.

So technically, pain doesnt exist until your brain interprets the messages coming into it as dangerous or not dangerous, and decides whether to make it painful or not.

Ways To Manage Chronic Pain

Exercise and continuing to work if you can are key to managing persistent pain, also known as chronic pain, to help lead a fuller life.

Lying in bed for long periods can make back pain last longer. Lack of activity can make:

• you stiffen up
• your muscles and bones weaker
• you sleep less well
• you become lonely and depressed
• pain feel worse

You may also find it becomes harder to get going again.

A better approach to reducing pain is a combination of:

• exercise

Choose an exercise that won’t put too much strain on yourself.

Good options include:

• dancing, yoga or pilates

Activity and stretching needs to become part of your lifestyle so you routinely do exercise a little and often.

Try to be active every day instead of only on the good days when you’re not in so much pain. This may reduce the number of bad days you have and help you feel more in control.

But try to avoid overdoing it on good days and paying for this by having more bad days.

Try these flexibility exercises and sitting exercises you can do at home.

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Team Approach To Pain Management

For some, an integrated team of specialists may be best suited to manage the chronic lower back pain from degenerative disc disease. A team will usually comprise some combination of the following health professionals:

• A pain management specialist, such as a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician or anesthesiologist focused on pain management
• A physical therapist or physiatrist focused on rehabilitation
• A psychologist and/or psychiatrist for co-existing mental health issues, such as depression and/or difficulty sleeping
• An occupational therapist to assist with functional rehabilitation

In addition, a specialized nurse case manager or another health professional may work with the team to coordinate the care needed to treat depression, disability, and chronic pain.

Sometimes the combination of treatments is more effective than individual treatments. For example, the use of cognitive behavioral therapy has been shown to improve the benefits of physical therapy3 and reduce sleep problems.

Maintain Correct Posture When Sitting

You can avoid lower back pain by maintaining proper posture when sitting. If you have a desk job, keep your feet planted on the floor and use a chair that provides lower back support. Also, avoid hunching forward to see your computer screen and reaching far in front of you to use your mouse or keyboard.

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How Can You Prevent Lower Back Pain

While you cant stop aging or change your genetic makeup, lifestyle changes can help manage and prevent lower back pain. Having a healthy lifestyle may make you less likely to suffer an accidental injury, too.

Improve your physical fitness. People who are not physically fit are more likely to develop lower back pain because strong core muscles help support the lower back.

Stay active. People who lead sedentary lives may be more likely to injure themselves when they do exert themselves. As far as back health is concerned, its better to do a smaller amount of physical activity most days of the week than to sit all week and over-exert yourself on the weekends.

Lose weight if necessary. The more you weigh, the more pressure you have on your lumbar vertebrae. Being overweight or obese can put stress on the back and lead to lower back pain.

Lift heavy objects the right way. Be sure to squat while lifting so that your hips and knees do much of the work. Keep the load close to your chest while you lift.

Your legs, not your lower back, should be the main driver when you’re lifting something heavy.Make your workspace as ergonomic as possible. If you sit at a desk, make sure your chair has plenty of low-back support and your hips are at a right angle to the floor.

Dont use tobacco products. In addition to all the other health problems tobacco use causes, it can restrict blood flow and oxygen to the discs, causing them to degenerate faster.

Read On To Know More About Tips To Deal With Chronic Lower Back Pain At Home

Rest:

Relax but remain mobile. Resting sore muscles will help reduce pain. Resting for a longer time will lead to other problems including stiff joints and muscle weakness, making the pain worse.

Hot and Cold Therapy:

Apply a cold pack to the tender area several times a day for up to 20 minutes. After 2- 3 days of cold treatment, apply a heating pad on the affected sites to resolve lower back injury. The compression could help prevent inflammation and increase blood flow. Taking hot showers early in the morning and before going to bed at night may also help relax muscles.

Medication:

With a right combination of prescribed OTC medications, you will be able to get relief from the condition. Make sure you give your inputs to the doctor about your medical history, allergies before a concrete pain management plan is crafted for you. The specialist will find the right fit of solutions depending on your body type, needs, circumstances, body and preferences.

Exercise:

Exercise is deemed as the most profitable routine to be followed when it comes to lower back pain management. While strengthening your back and abdominal muscles, regular exercise also builds muscle support for the spine, improve posture, maintain balance, and help you with recovery from the pain. Plus, if practiced regularly, it will also decrease the chance of injury in the future.

Massage:

While it is important to know about procedures, understanding strategies to keep your back healthy is also highly recommended.

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Lower Back Pain And Cancer

Cancer involving the lumbar spine is not a common cause of back pain. However, in people who have a prior history of cancer, for example, in the breast or prostate, or who have weight loss or loss of appetite along with back pain cancer needs to be considered.

Night pain can be a clue to cancer in the spine. A benign tumor called osteoid osteoma, which most often affects young people, causes pain that tends to respond well to aspirin. Multiple myeloma is a malignancy that occurs when the plasma cells in the bone marrow begin spreading uncontrollably. It is most common in older people, and can cause pain in many parts of the spine. When tumor or infection are suspected, blood tests may be ordered, including a CBC , sedimentation rate , and protein electrophoresis .

Things To Know About Chronic Low

Low-back pain is a very common condition, but often the cause is unknown. Most people have significant acute back pain at least once in their lives. Usually it resolves on its own without specific treatment.

But for some people, the pain can become chronic or even debilitating, and difficult to treat. Spinal manipulation, acupuncture, massage, and yoga are complementary health approaches often used by people with low-back pain. They are all included in a longer list of treatment options recommended by the American Pain Society and the American College of Physicians for patients whose low-back pain does not improve with more conservative care. Other options include exercise, physical/occupational rehabilitation, cognitive behavioral therapy, and progressive relaxation.

Hereâs what you need to know about what the science says for chronic low-back pain and some of these practices.

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What Research Is Being Done

The mission of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke is to seek fundamental knowledge of the brain and nervous system and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease. NINDS is a component of the National Institutes of Health , the leading supporter of biomedical research in the world.

As a primary supporter of research on pain and pain mechanisms, NINDS is a member of the NIH Pain Consortium, which was established to promote collaboration among the many NIH Institutes and Centers with research programs and activities addressing pain. On an even broader scale, NIH participates in the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee, a federal advisory committee that coordinates research across other U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agencies as well as the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

What Are The Risk Factors For Developing Low Back Pain

Anyone can have back pain. Factors that can increase the risk for low back pain include:

Age: The first attack of low back pain typically occurs between the ages of 30 and 50, and back pain becomes more common with advancing age. Loss of bone strength from osteoporosis can lead to fractures, and at the same time, muscle elasticity and tone decrease. The intervertebral discs begin to lose fluid and flexibility with age, which decreases their ability to cushion the vertebrae. The risk of spinal stenosis also increases with age.

Fitness level: Back pain is more common among people who are not physically fit. Weak back and abdominal muscles may not properly support the spine. Weekend warriorspeople who go out and exercise a lot after being inactive all weekare more likely to suffer painful back injuries than people who make moderate physical activity a daily habit. Studies show that low-impact aerobic exercise can help maintain the integrity of intervertebral discs.

Weight gain: Being overweight, obese, or quickly gaining significant amounts of weight can put stress on the back and lead to low back pain.

Genetics: Some causes of back pain, such as ankylosing spondylitis , have a genetic component.

Smoking: It can restrict blood flow and oxygen to the discs, causing them to degenerate faster.

Backpack overload in children: A backpack overloaded with schoolbooks and supplies can strain the back and cause muscle fatigue.

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In Most Cases A Primary Care Doctor Or Chiropractor Can Help You Resolve The Problem

Low back pain is one of the most common complaints on the planet. And you may wonder where to turn when you start experiencing some of those aches or twinges in the lower part of your back. Take heart. “In most cases, you won’t need a specialist,” says Dr. Robert Shmerling, a rheumatologist at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

What Is The Outlook

Most of us will have a bout of nonspecific low back pain at some point in our lives. The severity can vary. However, it is difficult to quote exact figures as to outlook . This is partly because it is so common and many people with back pain do not consult a doctor. Roughly, it is thought that:

• Most nonspecific back pains ease and go quickly, usually within a few weeks.
• In about 4 in 10 cases, the pain has completely gone within four weeks.
• In about 7 in 10 cases the pain has completely gone within one year.

However, once the pain has eased or gone it is common to have further bouts of pain from time to time in the future. Also, it is common to have minor pains on and off for quite some time after an initial bad bout of pain. In a small number of cases the pain persists for several months or longer. This is called chronic back pain.

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