When Should I See A Doctor About My Back Pain
A thrown-out back is most often due to a temporary muscle sprain, but more serious conditions can result in similar pain. Serious injuries can include herniated disks or muscular tears that may require medical intervention for a full recovery. A thrown-out back can also indicate other concerning medical issues, such as arthritis, kidney stones, osteoporosis and even certain forms of cancer.
If you experience any of the following symptoms, seek immediate medical care:
- Pain or numbness in the legs
- Bowel or bladder control problems
- Fever, chills or other signs of illness
- Intense, enduring pain that limits your ability to perform simple tasks
- Persistent pain that lasts for longer than a week
Your orthopaedic spine specialist will ask you about symptoms and possibly take X-rays, a CT scan or MRI to assess the extent of the injury and recommend treatment options for back pain.
When To Seek Medical Attention
General back soreness is very common and not something typically worth worrying over. However, its always smart to seek medical attention before a problem gets out of hand. When is this point?
- If severe pain lasts for three or more days
- The pain spreads from where it initially occurred
- A fever develops
Symptoms Of Throwing Out Your Back
Your bodys first and immediate response to throwing out your back is typically severe pain in your lower back. This may also be accompanied by muscle spasms, where your back muscles that typically help support and stabilize your spine tense and tighten. If you think you have thrown out your back, you may start to feel like your back is stiff and simple twists or stretches leave you feeling achy and may even increase your pain.
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What Does It Feel Like When You Throw Your Back Out
When the strained muscle in your back causes a spasm, you will often feel acute pain immediately following the injury. Pain intensity can range from minor to severe and is usually localized around the lumbar area. Many who suffer a thrown-out back lose range of motion and develop a hunched posture. Consistent pain, stiffness and muscle spasms are common symptoms.
With swift treatment at home, thrown-out backs may heal on their own within several days or up to two weeks. However, if you develop certain symptoms, immediate medical attention is often necessary to properly treat the injury.
What Can Cause Lower Back Pain
Most acute low back pain is mechanical in nature, meaning that there is a disruption in the way the components of the back fit together and move. Some examples of mechanical causes of low back pain include:
Congenital
- Skeletal irregularities such as scoliosis , lordosis , kyphosis , and other congenital anomalies of the spine.
- Spina bifida which involves the incomplete development of the spinal cord and/or its protective covering and can cause problems involving malformation of vertebrae and abnormal sensations and even paralysis.
Injuries
- Sprains , strains , and spasms
- Traumatic Injury such as from playing sports, car accidents, or a fall that can injure tendons, ligaments, or muscle causing the pain, as well as compress the spine and cause discs to rupture or herniate.
Degenerative problems
- Intervertebral disc degeneration which occurs when the usually rubbery discs wear down as a normal process of aging and lose their cushioning ability.
- Spondylosis the general degeneration of the spine associated with normal wear and tear that occurs in the joints, discs, and bones of the spine as people get older.
- Arthritis or other inflammatory disease in the spine, including osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis as well as spondylitis, an inflammation of the vertebrae.
Nerve and spinal cord problems
Non-spine sources
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Make Sure You Get Chiropractic Care
Dr. Shawn Johnston has found that the use of dry needling, soft tissue massage, and the chiropractic adjustment are the most effective conservative treatments. Rajah Fielder, FNP-C recommends trigger point injections, and muscle relaxers, if determined medically necessary.
Simply going to a chiropractor can reduce the healing process from weeks or months to only days!
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What Are The Symptoms Of Serious Back Injury
Severe back injuries include fractures , wounds, extensive bruising and damage to your spinal cord and internal organs.
Any of the following symptoms could indicate a severe back injury. You should see a doctor right away if you have:
- difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
- problems with urinating or passing stool
- numbness or pins and needles to the arms, legs, hands or feet
- blood in the urine
Seek medical assistance immediately by calling an ambulance on triple zero . Do not move the person unless they are in danger and advise the person to not move their back. Support their head, neck and spine and prevent twisting or bending movements.
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Treatment For Spine Misalignment
Just as spine misalignment happens over time, correcting it requires a long-term effort. You can start by being more aware of your spine alignment and making sure you stretch your body and get regular exercise.
More severe cases of spinal issues may require medical care or surgery. Talk to a doctor to see which strategies are best for you.
Immediate And Necessary Steps To Take After Throwing Out Your Back
Dec 14, 2019 | Chiropractic Care
Around 80% of people will experience back pain in their life. This could be for various reasons, such as surgery, injury, or age.
Throwing out your back is also a common occurrence, and it happens to 90% of people. If you threw out your back, it could be a serious problem, and there are steps to take to ensure that further injury doesnt happen.
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Q: My Lower Back Went Out 3 Weeks Ago What Should I Do
A: First of all, its important to know that in time, things will improve. Back pain like yours that is acute or subacute usually gets better as time goes on. This is true no matter what treatment is used.
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Try easing your way back to exercising when you feel the pain has lessened a bit. Exercise remains the main strategy for returning to full function during an acute bout of low back pain.
If acute or subacute low back pain doesnt resolve on its own, we agree with American College of Physicians guidelines that recommend:
- Superficial heat .
What Happens When You Throw Your Back Out
Back pain is one of the most common reasons why millions of people visit the doctor each year. You may have heard the expression, I threw my back out, and wondered what exactly that meant. Actually, throwing out your back refers to a sudden instance where you experience immediate lower back pain. Throwing out your back can cause such strong pain that you may wonder whether you should see a doctor right away. When you throw your back out, it can keep you from doing simple daily movements like moving from sitting to standing without significant pain. Heres what you need to know about what happens when you throw your back out.
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What To Do When You Throw Your Back Out
As a major support structure for your body, your back needs to be in good condition for you to complete most everyday tasks. When you throw your back out, you can suddenly and unexpectedly experience acute pain and find your mobility severely limited.
As we age, the cumulative wear and tear on our backs can leave us more susceptible to injury. Preventing and quickly treating back injuries is critical to keep your body healthy and moving well into your advanced years. It is important to discuss any serious back pain or unexpected symptoms with an orthopaedic spine specialist to avoid exacerbating an injury or causing permanent damage.
How Do You Relieve Lower Back Pain
Lower back pain is so common that around eight out of 10 adults experience it at some point in their lives. For many, low back pain can be uncomfortable to live with. Thankfully, most peoples symptoms improve with home remedies.
At Advocate Health Care, our team of spine specialists is fully equipped to help you find relief from low back pain. We use a range of tools to diagnose back pain and offer comprehensive treatment that enables you to get back to the activities you love.
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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.
What Happens When Your Back Goes Out
You hear it all the time. Somebody bends over either randomly or to pick something up and POP! Their back goes out. But what does that mean? People have become so used to the phrase that they either dont think about what theyre saying, or for some reason think their spine has something that randomly moved out of place. Do people really think a vertebra dislocated out of place? I can assure you this is not the case and the cause for pain is actually much simpler than you think.
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How Do You Throw Your Back Out
Throwing out your back generally means you have temporarily pulled or sprained a muscle in your back, often in the lumbar region. There are numerous ways in which you can throw your back out, including:
- Twisting your back
- Lack of proper back support for long periods of time
- Bodily stress or impact from sports
Muscle sprains are the primary cause of the pain of a thrown-out back. Discomfort can also occur when other structural parts of the back are damaged, such as blood vessels, ligaments and tendons.
When Your Spine Isn’t Fine: 9 Tips For A Thrown
A thrown-out back is a common and painful reality for millions of Americans. And the sharp, sudden and shooting pain in the lower, or lumbar, spine can be caused by anything from an overambitious weight workout to an awkward twist while picking up a toddlers toy.
Fortunately, a thrown-out back is usually temporary. Here are nine tips that will help ease the pain and speed recovery when your back gets out of whack.
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Tips For A Healthy Back
While throwing out your back can put a temporary dent in your life, there are ways to try and prevent back problems.
Regular exercise is one of the best ways to keep your back strong. Building muscles in both your core and your back will continue to give you support and strength. Incorporating stretching techniques like yoga or pilates increases your flexibility.
Since heavy lifting is a large reason why people throw out their back, take precautions if youre going to be doing a lot of lifting to avoid injury. You can wear protective gear like a brace or a belt that supports your back and your core. Investing in one of these is a smart idea if you do frequent heavy lifting or have back problems.
Learn and use correct ways to lift heavy objects. Always bend at the knees and keep a straight back when lifting, and never use your back to take the brunt of the weight. Awkward twisting or moving paves the way for more injury.
Dynamic Stretching Or Movement
The old advice of bed rest has been debunked Introducing some movement into the area can be helpful. The key is not to do any static stretching, that could potentially pull the muscle even more. Instead, we recommend dynamic stretching which basically means youll be moving in and out of the stretches. The Cat & Cow is one the best Dynamic Stretches you can do.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Lower Back Pain
Symptoms of lower back pain can come on suddenly or appear gradually. Sometimes, pain occurs after a specific event, such as bending to pick something up. Other times, you may not know what caused the pain.
Pain may be sharp or dull and achy, and it may radiate to your bottom or down the back of your legs . If you strain your back during an activity, you may hear a pop when it happened. Pain is often worse in certain positions and gets better when you lie down.
Other symptoms of lower back pain include:
- Stiffness: It may be tough to move or straighten your back. Getting up from a seated position may take a while, and you might feel like you need to walk or stretch to loosen up. You may notice decreased range of motion.
- Posture problems: Many people with back pain find it hard to stand up straight. You may stand crooked or bent, with your torso off to the side rather than aligned with your spine. Your lower back may look flat instead of curved.
- Muscle spasms: After a strain, muscles in the lower back can spasm or contract uncontrollably. Muscle spasms can cause extreme pain and make it difficult or impossible to stand, walk or move.
Is It A Pinched Nerve Or Pulled Muscle In The Lower Back
A pulled muscle occurs when you tear or overstretch some of the muscle fibers. This can happen if you overwork the muscle or twist it too hard. You will probably notice pain and swelling, and the area will be tender to the touch. You may even notice redness or bruising.
A pinched nerve, or nerve compression, happens when pressure in an area causes the nerve impulses to become partially blocked. You may experience a radiating, burning pain in the affected area.
While a pulled muscle in your lower back could potentially cause a pinched nerve, this can also be caused by a herniated disc in your spine. If you feel radiant pain that extends into your legs, see a doctor right away.
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How Is Low Back Pain Diagnosed
A complete medical history and physical exam can usually identify any serious conditions that may be causing the pain. Neurologic tests can help determine the cause of pain and appropriate treatment. Imaging tests are not needed in most cases but may be ordered to rule out specific causes of pain, including tumors and spinal stenosis. Occasionally the cause of chronic lower back pain is difficult to determine even after a thorough examination.
Tests include:
Blood tests are not routinely used to diagnose the cause of back pain but might be ordered to look for signs of inflammation, infection, cancer, and/or arthritis.
Bone scans can detect and monitor an infection, fracture, or bone disorder. A small amount of radioactive material is injected into the bloodstream and collects in the bones, particularly in areas with some abnormality. Scanner-generated images can identify specific areas of irregular bone metabolism or abnormal blood flow, as well as to measure levels of joint disease.
Discography involves injecting a contrast dye into a spinal disc thought to be causing low back pain. The fluids pressure in the disc will reproduce the persons symptoms if the disc is the cause. The dye helps to show the damaged areas on CT scans taken following the injection.
Electrodiagnostics can identify problems related to the nerves in the back and legs. The procedures include:
What Causes Lower Back Pain
Many injuries, conditions and diseases can cause lower back pain. They include:
- Strains and sprains: Back strains and sprains are the most common cause of back pain. You can injure muscles, tendons or ligaments by lifting something too heavy or not lifting safely. Some people strain their back by sneezing, coughing, twisting or bending over.
- Fractures: The bones in the spine can break during an accident, like a car crash or a fall. Certain conditions increase the risk of fractures.
- Disk problems: Disks cushion the vertebrae . Disks can bulge from their position in the spine and press on a nerve. They can also tear . With age, disks can get flatter and offer less protection .
- Structural problems: A condition called spinal stenosis happens when the spinal column is too narrow for the spinal cord. Something pinching the spinal cord can cause severe sciatic nerve pain and lower back pain. Scoliosis can lead to pain, stiffness and difficulty moving.
- Arthritis: Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis to cause lower back pain. Ankylosing spondylitis causes lower back pain, inflammation and stiffness in the spine.
- Disease:Spine tumors, infections and several types of cancer can cause back pain. Other conditions can cause back pain, too. These include kidney stones and abdominal aortic aneurysm.
- Spondylolisthesis: This condition causes the vertebrae in the spine to slip out of place. Spondylolisthesis leads to low back pain and often leg pain as well.
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