Lower Back Pain – Cause, Symptoms, and Treatment

What Is Lower Back Pain?

The lower back is scientifically known as the lumbar spine and is made of a highly intricate structure with bones, joints, nerves, ligaments, and muscles to provide support, strength, and flexibility to the spine. Due to its complex and interconnecting bone structure, the lower back is susceptible to injury and pain more often than any other area of the spine.

Most lower back pain is a result of injury of the muscles, ligaments, and joints connecting at the lumbar spine. When there is an injury, the area is immobilized by the body ‘s natural healing system which creates inflammation in that area. This inflammation causes extreme lower back pain. However, a few diseases not related to disc or spine issues could also cause lower back pain. Reasons for this are kidney stones, pregnancy or miscarriage related pain, cancer etc.

Types of Lower Back Pain

Depending on the pattern of pain that gets manifested, lower back pain presents itself in different intensities and as many lower back pain symptoms. The most predominant forms of lower back pain symptoms are explained below.:

• Axial pain – This is a mechanical pain and can be explained as a sharp, dull, constant, or recurring type of pain, caused due to muscle strain.
• Referral pain – Here, the pain is dull, achy, and moves around changing intensity.
• Radicular pain – This is deep and searing. Usually follows the path of the nerve that travels to the limbs. Numbness and weakness of the limbs follow these lower back pain symptoms. The cause is due to compression inflammation or injury to nerve roots.

What Are the Lower Back Pain Causes?

Lower back pain causes are usually mechanical issues and soft tissue injuries. Injuries are caused owing to damage of the intervertebral disc, compression of nerve roots, a twisted spine, improper movement of spinal joints, poor posture, muscles and ligaments that are torn or pulled, sports injuries, lifting heavy objects, chronic back problems, or age-related wear and tear.

Unlike lower back pain causes like strain and sprain, chronic back pain stretches beyond the body’s natural healing cycle. Causes for chronic lower back pain include disc problems, joint problems, and irritated nerve root. Most lower back pain causes for chronic lower back pain are:

• Lumbar herniated disc
• Degenerative disc disease
• Facet joint dysfunction
• Sacroiliac
• Spinal stenosis
• Spondylolisthesis
• Osteoarthritis

Deformity, trauma, compression fracture, infection, tumour, autoimmune diseases, pelvic inflammatory disease, prostatitis, spinal cord abscess, and abortion are other causes of lower back pain.

Diagnosis of Lower Back Pain

Methods used for the diagnosis of lower back pain.

• X-ray images detect bone structure to identify broken bones, injured vertebra or disc.
• Computerized Tomography or CT scan helps to see the spinal structure such as ligaments, muscles, swelling, descriptive spinal stenosis, and tumour which are not visible in an x-ray image.
• Myelograms – In this form of imaging, x-ray or CT scan is done after injecting a contrast dye into the spinal canal.
• Discography imaging is used to diagnose the cause of pain by injecting dye into the spinal disc.
• Magnetic resonance imaging or MRI uses magnetic force to create computer-generated images of soft tissues, ligaments, tendons, and blood vessels to identify if the requirement is surgery or physiotherapy exercise for lower back pain.
• Electro diagnostics is where the electric activity of the muscle is recorded by inserting needles into the muscles to measure electric activity transmitted from the brain.
• A bone scan uses a small amount of radioactive material injected into the bloodstream.
• Sonography or USG uses high-frequency sound waves for obtaining real time images of ligaments, muscles, tendons, and soft tissues.

Blood tests are done to diagnose inflammation, cancer, infection, arthritis etc.

Lower Back Pain Treatment

Lower back pain treatment depends on the intensity and cause. Surgery is one of the lower back pain remedies, but this cure for lower back pain is not recommended until there is a fear of nerve damage or need for structural correction. Alternative care treatments like lower back pain home treatment can be an effective lower back pain treatment for lower back pain relief. Here are some common lower back pain treatment methods that provide lower back pain relief.

Muscle strengthening lower back pain exercises to build and maintain muscle strength

Lower back pain treatment at home to strengthen core muscles of the lower back to improve mobility. This lower back pain home treatment has proven to be one of the best lower back pain remedies because lower back pain treatment at home is done at a place where the patient is comfortable.

Artificial disc replacement

• Surgery
• Chiropractic treatment
• Painkiller injections
• Spinal fusion
• Medications
• Traction
• Epidural steroid injection

When Do You Need Us?

Such pain can be effectively dealt through lower back pain exercises with the help of specific lower back pain physical therapy. Rehabilitation after back pain surgery also requires lower back pain exercises using lower back pain physical therapy. These lower back pain remedies consist of muscle strengthening techniques using biomechanics, manual therapy exercise, and electrotherapy. These lower back pain exercises help increase blood flow and muscle strength. Our specialists can arrive at your home for lower back pain home treatment, to suggest and perform optimal lower back pain exercises most suitable for lower back pain relief.

How We Can Help for Lower Back Pain Treatment

Lower back pain physical therapy experts help restore mobility effectively for patients with lower back pain since they understand how the body and its muscles work. Our lower back pain home treatment experts guide the patients with their sound clinical knowledge about lower back pain remedies and treat efficiently through their expert diagnosis paired with skills of lower back pain physiotherapy. If lower back pain physiotherapy is not performed under expert guidance, injuries and pain can worsen. Thus, our lower back pain treatment at home using lower back pain physiotherapy methods is vital for lower back pain treatment.

Lower Back Pain Summary

Lower back pain can be relieved by timely diagnosis, medication, right posture, healthy lifestyle, and prompt lower back pain treatment. Mild movement restriction may be advised for patients for a few days after undergoing surgery along with physiotherapy exercise for lower back pain.

Meet Our Physiotherapists on Lower back pain

Dr. Hari Prasad M – MPT – 4 YEARS Experience.

Dr. Ramya Deepika.C.C -MPT -7 YEAR Experience.