Technically Ibp Causes Night Back Pain Not Morning Back Pain
The morning pain of IBP is actually a case of leftover nighttime symptoms, which wear off as you wake up and get moving. When the symptoms are milder, you will mostly sleep through them, noticing them only when you wake up. But these symptoms will usually be obvious while you are still in bed, as soon as you are conscious or even waking you up early.
In contrast, pain that you dont notice until you actually get up and start trying to move around is less likely to be inflammatory in nature. But these are rules of thumb only, of course theres always lots of exceptions in biology.
Doctors, do not actually try giving this advice to patients! Joke by 9GAG .
What Structures Make Up The Back
The lower backwhere most back pain occursincludes the five vertebrae in the lumbar region, which supports much of the weight of the upper body. The spaces between the vertebrae are maintained by round, rubbery pads called intervertebral discs that act like shock absorbers throughout the spinal column to cushion the bones as the body moves. Bands of tissue known as ligaments hold the vertebrae in place, and tendons attach the muscles to the spinal column. Thirty-one pairs of nerves are rooted to the spinal cord and they control body movements and transmit signals from the body to the brain.
Other regions of vertebrate are cervical , thoracic , and sacral and coccygeal segments.
Can Back Pain Be Prevented
Recurring back pain resulting from improper body mechanics may be prevented by avoiding movements that jolt or strain the back, maintaining correct posture, and lifting objects properly. Many work-related injuries are caused or aggravated by stressors such as heavy lifting, contact stress , vibration, repetitive motion, and awkward posture.Recommendations for keeping ones back healthy
You May Like: What Causes Lower Back Pain Just Above The Buttocks
Low Back Pain Treatment
What you need for treatment depends on the cause of your low back pain.
Your doctor may recommend temporary use of medications to relieve pain. These might include over-the counter medicines such as acetaminophen or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin, ibuprofen, or naproxen. Sometimes, stronger medications may be prescribed for pain treatment. If pain is severe or lasts, you may need oral or injected steroids.
Physical therapy or chiropractic can bring relief for many. These targeted treatments may include:
- Ice or heat
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.
Recommended Reading: What Is The Treatment For Lower Back Pain
Articles Like This Dont Write Themselves
Suggested price to continue reading is $6 USD.? Dont want to pay? Just keep on scrollin by! Like passing a street busker.
You do not have to pay to continue reading. The suggested price really is just a suggestion. I refuse to clutter my pages with typical internet advertising so instead you get a strongly worded suggestion to support my work. But only in a few of the most substantive and popular articles.
And why six bucks? I would rather suggest $3 for this, honestly, but my hands are tied. Its weird, but $5 online purchases are rejected by credit card companies at an extraordinary rate, because that price point is strongly associated with fraud . And under $5, the fees start to defeat the purpose of the donation. So $6 is the minimum viable price point for a micro-transaction.
But, if youve come this far with me, you can see that this is a super deep dive into the topic of morning back pain, like a small ebook that I could easily be selling to Kindle users . Certainly its more than a mere article: its an actively maintained resource, heavily referenced, and ad-free for millions of readers over the years. Please help it exist.
Or support PainScience with a newsletter subscription, and get 13 mostly short posts of pain science news per week, plus some extra posts and perks for paid subscribers. Save $12/year with an annual subscription.
Vancouver, Canada
Chronic Low Back Pain Is Seriousbut Rarely Ominous
Back pain can suck the joy out of your days for week, months, even years. It can definitely be serious even when its not dangerous. I have worked with many truly miserable chronic low back pain patients, and of course the huge economic costs of back pain are cited practically anywhere the subject comes up. But your typical case of chronic low back pain, as nasty as it can be, has never killed anyone.
Ominous is medical jargon for truly scary. Cue Jaws theme music. Low back pain is ominous when it is caused by a spinal cord trauma, or a progressive disease that can maim or kill. Ominous causes of low back pain are rare, fortunately. But they are real. Awful things do happen, even the best doctors can miss them, and alternative health care professionals are even more likely to.
Read Also: How To Sleep To Help Lower Back Pain
Unexplained Acute Low Back Pain
Unexplained low back pain means chronic pain that comes on gradually, over time, with no specific injury, event, or illness causing it.
Common causes:
- Prolonged sitting and lack of fitness can weaken back muscles and cause pain from lack of support.
- Ankylosing spondylitis, a form of arthritis.
- Spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal column that puts pressure on the spinal cord.
- Certain types of cancer, in rare cases.
Those most susceptible are over 30, overweight and/or pregnant, and not physically fit. Smoking interferes with healing after any sort of stress to the back.
If there are additional symptoms, medical care should be sought: fever, unexplained weight loss, leg weakness or numbness, or trouble urinating.
An exact diagnosis is made through blood tests and through imaging such as x-rays, CT scan, or MRI.
Once more serious causes are ruled out, treatment may include medications to ease pain, swelling, and inflammation. Steroid injections are useful in some cases.
Overall, exercise and maintaining a healthy weight can be very helpful with easing chronic low back pain.
Rarity: Common
Top Symptoms: lower back pain, back pain that shoots to the butt, fever, back pain
Symptoms that always occur with unexplained acute low back pain:lower back pain
Symptoms that never occur with unexplained acute low back pain:buttocks numbness, thigh numbness, involuntary defecation, fever
Urgency: Self-treatment
They Took More And More Pain Killers Each Week To Find Pain Relief
Although pain killers can take the edge off a problem for the first few days after an injury, they should never be seen as a long-term solution.
Unfortunately, many people get stuck, unable to get on with their normal daily life because of pain but struggling to find alternatives to pain killers.
We live in an age where doctors will hand out pain killers for almost every painful problem .
What people really need is a natural, healthy, non-addictive alternative to solve the ROOT cause of the problem Not masking the pain but beating the underlying problem instead.
Recommended Reading: What Is A Lower Back Strain
Chiropractic Goals And Possible Effects
Should patients feel more pain in your back after receiving chiropractic care? When it comes to the spine, and back specifically, the goal of a successful chiropractic session is to eradicate inflammation and reduce overall pain.
The areas of relief mainly focus on joints, ligaments, and muscles.
The intention is to achieve this well-being through the use of:
- Massaging
- Electrical stimulation
- Spinal manipulation
Its important to note that common side effects of chiropractic adjustments are tiredness, minor headaches, and slight discomfort in adjusted locations.
Your body may be used to being out of alignment. So, when your spine is back in alignment, it will take some getting used to, which may cause you to feel sore.
So what else has occurred to hinder the success of your chiropractic visit and leave you in a significant amount of pain?
Treatments For Back Pain From A Specialist
A GP, specialist or physiotherapist may recommend extra treatments if they do not think your pain will improve with self-help measures alone.
These may include:
- group exercise classes where you’re taught exercises to strengthen your muscles and improve your posture
- manual therapy treatments, such as manipulating the spine and massage, which are usually done by a physiotherapist, chiropractor or osteopath
- psychological support, such as cognitive behavioural therapy , which can be a useful part of treatment if you’re struggling to cope with pain
Some people choose to see a therapist for manual therapy without seeing a GP first. If you want to do this, you’ll usually need to pay for private treatment.
Surgery is generally only considered in the small number of cases where back pain is caused by a specific medical condition.
You May Like: What Causes Lower Back Pain That Radiates Down The Legs
Your Doctor May Want To Order Some Studies:
Diagnostic Studies: Depending on the most likely concern, your doctor may order any of a number of basic laboratory studies to detect anemia, inflammation, and elevated levels of proteins or markers in your system. Urinalysis may reveal blood, bacteria or reveal a renal stone.
In infections, specific tests can reveal the presence of infectious agents before the actual source is revealed. A TB skin test should be placed, if you have traveled anywhere that that disease is common, or have simply been around someone who has had the disease.
X-rays and Imaging: Some problems are only visualized on x-rays when significant bone destruction has occurred. A bone scan may be necessary to identify fractures, infections or tumors in their earliest phase. More often, MRI can screen the whole spine, and shows the soft tissue elements inside and outside the spinal column.
However, among patients with a recent osteoporotic spine fracture, x-rays are the best way to quickly and accurately detect a new fracture and determine how much collapse has occurred.
What Should I Know About Back Pain
Back pain is a very common problem and will affect many of us at some point during our lives.
The good news is that in most cases it isnt a serious problem, and it might just be caused by a simple strain to a muscle or ligament.
As far as possible, its best to continue with your normal everyday activities as soon as you can and to keep moving.
Being active and exercising wont make your back pain worse, even if you have a bit of pain and discomfort at first. Staying active will help you get better. Taking painkillers can help you do this.
You May Like: How To Sleep When Having Lower Back Pain
Your Shoes Are Causing Problems
Fashion choices can often lead to pain, starting with your feet. High heels are an especially common culprit when it comes to back pain, as it forces you to lean forward when you walk, puts extra pressure on the feet, and causes you to not fully extend your calf muscles, which leads to more strain on the lower back.
They Had A Bad Experience With A Healthcare Professional
Unfortunately, we hear this one all the time. So many of our clients are worried about coming to see us before their first appointment after being cracked by a chiropractor or mauled by a massage therapist in the past.
When a healthcare professional has left you in more pain or behaved in a way that you didnt like, it is only natural that you would lose trust and respect for the profession as a whole.
However, not all healthcare professionals will give you that same bad experience. Its important that you choose extremely carefully when looking for a provider we would ALWAYS recommend you call up and speak to the person who will be treating you before. This is so you can get to know them better and ask about the treatment methods that they use. This should significantly put your mind at ease!
Recommended Reading: How Long Does Epidural Back Pain Last
Can Sleeping On My Stomach Cause Back Pain
The simple answer is yes. Stomach sleeping is infamous for causing back pain problems, which makes sense when you think about it.
Most of your body weight will be dispersed around your middle so the natural curve of your spine will be flattened and placed under unnecessary strain in an awkward position. Since the spine is a hub for your nerves this pain can spread throughout your entire body, not just your lower back!
Then theres your neck to consider. Unless youve miraculously developed the ability to breath with a pillow stuffed in your face, the chances are that you have to turn your neck to the side in order to breathe peacefully through the night.
This can cause problems because its not a natural angle for your neck to be twisted at imagine sitting all day with your head turned to the side! It puts your head out of alignment with your spine which eventually will cause you some discomfort and in a worst case scenario it can cause some real health problems such as a herniated disk!
Herniated Disk In The Lower Back
The backbone, or spine, is made up of 26 bones called vertebrae. In between the bones are soft disks filled with a jelly-like substance. These disks cushion the vertebrae and keep them in place. Although people talk about a slipped disk, nothing actually slips out of place. The outer shell of the disk ruptures, and the jelly-like substance bulges out. It may be pressing on a nerve, which is what causes the pain.A slipped disk is more likely to happen due to strain on the back, such as during heavy lifting, and older individuals are at higher risk.
Rarity: Common
Top Symptoms: lower back pain, moderate back pain, back pain that shoots down the leg, back pain that gets worse when sitting, leg weakness
Urgency: Primary care doctor
Read Also: Which Purple Mattress Is Best For Back Pain
Morning Baths Are Almost Miraculous For Some Kinds Of Morning Back Pain
A hot bath is one of the oldest medicines. While most people appreciate a nice hot bath, few people think of it as a serious treatment for back pain just something that takes the edge off. Maybe.
But for morning back pain, it can be incredibly effective. Reader C.B. writes:
I am 73 with assorted age-related issues, but this low back pain every morning is new. Here is what I do: I run a hot bath, and jump in and immediately the pain goes away, all of it. Why would that be, and what does it mean?
C. is not alone: many people report near rapid, profound relief from morning back pain. Baths seem to be at their best in this context, and its not clear why. When a bath has an immediate, profound effect on pain, its probably because immersion/flotation is a fairly potent dose of novel sensory input, which can very persuasively tell the brain that theres no need for the alarm of pain. This may be more pronounced with some kinds of pain that are aggravated by gravity, so the partial flotation might be directly relieving.
And then, by the time you get out of the bath, the relatively transient phenomenon of morning back pain is already retreating and perhaps even faster because of some thermal effects .
P.S. Showers may be just as good! Or nearly as good. It would be nice if I could cite a nice, well-controlled trial of this, but thats probably never going to happen.
See the donation page for more information & options. Exclusive content for patrons coming mid-2021.
When You Should Go To The Er For Back Pain
If your back pain is accompanied by any of the following symptoms, head to your closest emergency room because you could be dealing with a more serious condition or injury:
- Sudden spike in pain, discomfort, weakness or numbness
- Loss of bladder function
- Unexplainable weight loss
- The pain results from a fall or severe blow to your back
If you experience any of these symptoms, its a good idea to talk to your doctor so you can determine next steps for managing pain.
Also Check: What Causes Back Pain At Night
Making Back Pain Worse Instead Of Better
Here are some common ways people increase their back pain, instead of making it better:
- Lack of physical activity
- Improperly bending or poor back mechanics
- Improper use of icing and heating back muscles
- Sitting on fitness ball rather then your office chair
When you are experiencing chronic back pain, it is common to significantly reduce physical activity. While this is a good idea in some cases, in reality its best to keep some level of physical activity going. Lying in bed for days or weeks can delay healing. Resting longer than 48 hours causes muscle atrophy, which can often lead to a muscle spasm and increased weakening of the back muscles. Light activity like walking, swimming, or spending some time on an elliptical trainer can actually speed up the healing process.
Its important when bending or lifting heavy objects to bend at the knees rather then using the support of your back muscles. Improper bending increases the likelihood of injuring your back through something as simple as a sneeze. In time, over-usage of the back muscles causes significant weakening so that when you least expect it a sudden injury occurs.
In the case of icing and heating back muscles its important to note that although a hot shower might feel good, the heat might actually be increasing inflammation by opening up blood vessels. Icing and heating in combination breaks the cycles in which muscle spasms cause pain.
