What Can Lower Back Pain Be A Symptom Of

Ligamental Sprain Following Coughing As A Cause Of Back Pain

The vertebra, facet joint and disc are fastened to adjacent bone or cartilage by a ligament. Severe continuous cough rarely causes micro tear of ligament. Such ligamental injury causes severe back pain.5 Such ligamental strain is observed following coughing in individual who is malnourished, avoids exercise and suffering with prolonged sickness. Facet joint pain is also caused by ligamental sprain of ligaments that supports facet joint.

What To Do About Severe Lower Back Pain

If you have severe back pain, connect with a doctor as soon as possible.

You may discuss diagnostic tests if a healthcare professional hasnt already identified the cause of your back pain. After you receive a diagnosis from the doctor, youll discuss treatment options.

If your lower back pain is accompanied by a loss of bowel or bladder control, or progressive neurological loss, seek immediate medical attention. You might need emergency surgery.

There are many ways to prevent lower back pain. Taking these measures may help prevent pain altogether or lessen the severity of your symptoms if you manage to get injured.

Prevention may involve:

What Does It Mean If Lower Back Pain Is Shooting Into Legs

Lower back pain can radiate to other parts of the body: up or down from its place of origin. Sometimes lower back pain can be on one side of the back, which is also normal.

If the pain is shooting from the lower back into one or both legs, it could be sciatica , but its not always the case. There are many parts in the lower back that may cause the pain to radiate into the legs, such as facet joints, sacroiliac joints, muscles or inflammation of the bursa.

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What Causes Pain On Left Side Of Upper Back

• Injuries. Injuries of various types can cause upper left back pain.
• Musculoskeletal Causes of Upper Left Back Pain. Conditions affecting the muscles and joints are often the causes of upper left back pain.
• Upper Left Back Pain Caused Due to Nerve Conditions.
• Other Causes of Pain in the Upper Left Back.

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Some medications or medical conditions put patients at greater risk for low bone density, fractured vertebrae, or back pain. In these cases, we get referrals from and collaborate with oncologists, hematologists, rheumatologists, mineral metabolism doctors, and primary care doctors to reduce patients risks and manage their symptoms.

If you are worried about back pain, come see us for reassurance. The earlier you are diagnosed, the better your outcomes can be.

If you or a loved one might benefit from a back pain consultation, call or request an appointment online.

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You’ve Been In Pain For Over A Week

Most back pain will subside after a few days, but if you’ve been experiencing pain for over a week, then it’s time to call a doctor. Your doctor will perform any examinations or tests required to help get to the bottom of your pain before it could become a bigger problem. As is the case with many health conditions, prevention and addressing problems early is key.

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Arthritis Of The Spine

Arthritis of the spine the slow degeneration of the spinal joints is the most frequent cause of lower back pain. All of us experience wear and tear as we age, and it is normal for your lower back to start acting up as you get older. As the cartilage breaks down between the spinal joints, surrounding tissues may become inflamed. The inflammation and the thinning of cartilage increase friction in the joints, which may cause pain in the lower back.

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You Have Unexplained Weight Loss

If you experience sudden weight loss that can’t be explained by diet and lifestyle changes, then you should always pay attention to what your body is telling you. This is especially true when the unexplained weight loss is accompanied by back pain. See your doctor to rule out the possibility of a more severe condition, such as an infection or tumor.

Learn More: Other reasons to see a primary care provider

Gallbladder Dysfunction Or Inflammation

Gallbladder dysfunction or inflammation is generally characterized by severe indigestion, especially following meals. It usually leads to right-sided back pain and upper right abdominal pain. Around 14.2 million women and 6.3 million men between the ages of 20 and 74 have gallbladder disease at any one time.

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Active Breaks May Help With Pain

A large-scale study of Denmark’s workforce health promotion programs found those who took activity breaks, compared to those who did nothing, were less likely to need multiple sick days from illness and pain.

Seated Reverse Shoulder Fly

Many of the employees in the study, including office workers, used elastic resistance bands for 10-minute exercise breaks, three times a week. They did exercises like placing the bands between the hands, pulling the arms open, and squeezing the shoulders together. Employees could take breaks using the bands at their desk or gather with co-workers to exercise together.

Stretching resistance bands apart with your hands can counter the slouching, forward motion of the neck and shoulders when working at a computer. It can also help with muscle fatigue from sitting at a desk for long periods by strengthening back muscles, says Lars L. Andersen, a professor of musculoskeletal disorders at Denmark’s National Research Centre for the Working Environment and lead author of the study.

The study demonstrated that “active breaks are good for the body and the mind and help with pain,” says Andersen.

The NIH’s Langevin is a fan of using yoga stretches for movement snacks because they help to maintain the flexibility of connective tissue. Gentle movement from the practice can also encourage the body to relax and reduces the risk of aggravating back pain.

Who Should I See For Lower Back Pain

Your primary care physician knows you best and should be your first contact for lower back pain. If he or she is unable to diagnose or treat the issue, you may get referred to a specialist, such as a rehabilitation physician . These specialists practice a comprehensive approach to lower back pain, and can diagnose and treat a variety of conditions that have lower back pain as a symptom.

Later, you may get referred to a physical therapist, a chiropractor or another practitioner depending on the nature of your back pain. The good news is that surgery is rarely needed for lower back pain. Only about one in ten patients needs lower back surgery, Chhatre says.

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Who Gets Back Pain

Anyone can have back pain. You may be more likely to have back pain because of the following:

• Fitness level: Back pain is more common among people who are out of shape. You may also get back pain if you exercise too hard after not being active for a while.
• Obesity: If you are overweight or obese, it can put stress on the back and cause pain.
• Job-related risk factors: Jobs that require heavy lifting, pushing, pulling, or twisting can injure the back. A desk job may also play a role, especially if you slouch or sit all day in an uncomfortable chair.
• Age: You may have more back pain as you get older, particularly after you turn 45.
• Family history: Your genes play a role in some disorders that cause back pain.

What Causes Back And Neck Pain

Even with today’s technology, the exact cause of back and neck pain is difficult to determine. In most cases, back and neck pain may have many different causes, including any of the following:

• Overuse, strenuous activity, or improper use, such as repetitive or heavy lifting

• Trauma, injury, or fractures

• Degeneration of vertebrae, often caused by stresses on the muscles and ligaments that support your spine, or the effects of aging

• Abnormal growth, such as a tumor or bone spur

• Obesity, which places increased weight on your spine, and pressure on your discs

• Poor muscle tone

• Joint problems, such as arthritis

• Protruding or herniated disk and pinched nerve

• Osteoporosis and compression fractures

• Congenital abnormalities of your vertebrae and bones

• Abdominal problems, such as an aortic aneurysm

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Less Common Causes Of Low Back Pain

While considerably less common, low back pain may also be caused by:

Infection. Also called osteomyelitis, a spinal infection is rare but can cause severe pain and is life threatening if untreated. It can be caused by surgical procedures, injections, or spread through the blood stream. Patients with a compromised immune system are more susceptible to developing an infection in the spine.

Tumor. Most spinal tumors start in another part of the body and metastasize to the spine. The most common tumors that spread to the spine start from cancer in the breast, prostate, kidney, thyroid, or lung. Any new symptoms of back pain in a patient with a known diagnosis of cancer should be evaluated for possible spinal metastasis.

Autoimmune disease. Back pain is a possible symptom associated with autoimmune conditions, such as ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, crohns disease, fibromyalgia, and others.

This list includes the more common causes of back pain, but there are many more. Finding the optimal treatment for low back pain usually depends on obtaining a correct clinical diagnosis that identifies the underlying cause of the patients symptoms.

How Tria Neck And Back Strengthening Program Helps You Heal Your Back Pain

What many people dont realize about chronic back pain is that it can often be solved without surgery. Yes, sometimes surgery is the suggestion but only after non-surgical options have stopped working.

At TRIA Neck and Back Strengthening Program our spine strengthening program focuses on active physical therapy which focuses on movement-based activities. This is a proven method for healing chronic back pain just ask any of the 200,000-plus patients weve worked with over the past 30 years.

Through this program, youll do an intake with a doctor or physical therapist who specializes in spine care and chronic pain. Theyll work with you to determine the best pain management treatment plan. Then youll work one-on-one with a physical therapist.

Most programs are six to 12 weeks long, and your therapy happens at one of our facilities that features state-of-the-art medical exercise equipment. As part of your care, youll learn about what chronic pain is and how the brain processes it.

Youll also focus on body mechanics such as proper lifting, standing and sleeping all the things that can contribute to back pain but you probably dont think about. And as you progress, youll learn how to continually improve and maintain your back strength on you own so you can keep back pain at bay long-term.

Want to learn more about TRIA Neck and Back Strengthening Program? Watch this short video.

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Referred Pain To And From The Lumbar Spine

Pain in the area of the lumbar spine may be due to important problems that are actually unrelated to the back. Referred pain occurs when a problem in one place in the body causes pain in another place. The pain travels down a nerve.. Sources of referred pain to the low back may include abdominal aneurysm , tubal pregnancy, kidney stones, pancreatitis, and colon cancer. Clues to these maladies include pain that waxes and wanes over a short period, with frequent peaks of intense pain, weight loss, abnormalities found during abdominal exam, and trace amounts of blood in the urine. On the other hand, pain can be referred from the low back and be felt in another location, as is often the case with . For example, it is not rare for a patient with a slipped disc in the lower back to have pain in the back of the thigh, or in the calf or even the foot, and not have any low back pain. This situation requires a doctor to sort out the type of pain and to do the examination required to show that the pain is actually coming from the spine .

Stretch Flex Or Even Fidget

Any kind of movement works from yoga poses to walking briskly around the room or running up several flights of stairs.

The NASA program included seated marches, standing calf raises, push-ups with hands on the desk, standing leg curls and neck, shoulder, and back stretches.

Chair Sit & Stand:

“Your body is always talking to you,” said Marceleus M. Venable, a personal trainer in Washington D.C.. and co-author of the NASA exercise program. “Your hands cramp, you have hip pain and neck pain … it’s saying: ‘hey, can you stretch me?’

No one set of exercises works for every body. Rather, people should focus on movements that challenge areas of weakness, strengthen multiple parts of the body at once and that they enjoy, says Katy Bowman, a Carlsborg, Wash., biomechanist and author of the book Move Your DNA.

“It’s not as simple as, everyone with back pain, do these four moves,” says Bowman. “It’s just like dietary nutrition. Just as you need a spectrum of dietary nutrients, you need a spectrum of movements that make the body strong from head to toe.”

Seated Ceiling Reach:

“I’m a big advocate of fidgeting,” she says. “Keep repositioning yourself you can’t really sit and not move for hours and hours a day and expect your body to be happy with that.”

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Why Lower Abdomen And Back Pain

Constipation A common reason for lower back and abdominal pain is constipation. You can suffer from constipation when you are under stress, dont consume enough fluids, if you have a low-fiber or an irregular diet, or consume a lot of processed foods.

• These factors can cause stools to become hard and they can be difficult to pass.
• Constipation usually causes pain in your lower abdomen for most people, however, according to the charity Cancer Research UK, chronic constipation can also cause back pain along with abdominal pain.1 This happens because the buildup of hard stool presses on the nerves in your lower back, causing pain.

There are many natural remedies for constipation that can help to soften your stools to make them easier to pass. One natural way to find relief from constipation and get rid of your pain is to consume coconut oil. Coconut oil contains medium-chain fatty acids and studies have shown that MCFAs can help to speed up metabolism and this will help you to be more regular. 2 Mix 1 tsp.

There you will also find other helpful ideas on how to relieve constipation naturally.

Contents

Causes Of Lower Back Pain

Mechanical abnormalities and soft tissue injuries are among the most common causes of lower back pain. Lets review some of the conditions that frequently lead to this uncomfortable symptom:

Sprains and strains

Muscle strains and ligament sprains are the most common causes of lower back pain and fortunately for us all, they also tend to improve and rarely lead to chronic pain. Strains and strains occur when muscles, tendons, or ligaments are stretched beyond their capacity and develop partial tears or microtears as a result.

Sprains and strains can occur as acute injuries, or they can develop progressively over a period of time. Different movements can lead to these types of injuries, including:

• Lifting a heavy object using an inadequate technique
• Engaging in poor posture over a prolonged period of time
• Falling or twisting your lower back suddenly

Ligament sprains and muscle strains cause symptoms that are essentially indistinguishable from each other, and they often receive the same treatment. Symptoms of sprains and strains can include:

• Lower back pain that can irradiate to the buttocks, but not the legs.
• Pain that intensifies with specific movements or positions.
• Muscle spasms or cramping.

Symptoms caused by these injuries typically improve on their own within 10 to 14 days. However, they can cause moderate to severe pain at first.

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Common Causes Of Chronic Lower Back Pain

“Chronic lower back pain is less likely to be caused by injury to your muscles and ligaments and more likely to be due to issues with the lumbar disks, nerves, joints or vertebrae,” says Dr. Palmer. “There are several potential causes of chronic pain in the lower back.”

In general, osteoarthritis and degenerative disk disease are the underlying cause of many types of chronic lower back pain. However, lower back pain can also be caused by accident-related trauma and acute stress.

How Are Back And Neck Pain Treated

If you experience acute back or neck pain, it may simply improve with some rest. Over-the-counter medicines, such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen, may also help with the discomfort. You should try to move gently during this period, so that you will not become stiff and lose mobility.

If you have chronic pain of your back and neck, you should try several remedies that may be helpful, before seeking surgical options. These include:

• Hot or cold packs

• Specific exercises to strengthen muscles and ease pain, such as stretching and flexing. Your health care provider can provide and demonstrate these exercises.

• Aerobic exercise may be permitted and can help with your overall fitness and strength

• Certain anti-inflammatory medications or muscle relaxants may be used, with your health care providers supervision

• Braces or corsets for extra support

• Injections for pain relief in the area

• Nerve block, which decreases pain signals from the affected nerve

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