Back Pain Relief:

Millions of Americans suffer from back pain on a daily basis and there is no cure in site for them. Back pain ranges from sudden, sharp pains where you can barely move to the chronic constant back aches that keep people from working and living their lives. Sometimes you hurt your back and don't even know it until later, such as being in a car accident. It can take days for your back to show effects from a fall or from auto accidents. Other things that can cause back pain are age (older you get the more likely you will develop back problems), poor physical fitness or being overweight, genetic diseases, arthritis, smoking, or even your job if you lift things at work. Plenty of employees working in docks or wharehouse environments get back issues during their careers. Surprisingly enough your race can play a part in how susceptible you are to getting back pain. Black women are 2 to 3 times more likely than white women to have part of the lower back slip out of place in their lifetime. Keep reading to find out what causes the actual "pain" in your back.

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Common causes of back pain are tense muscles, ruptured discs, spasms, or disc breakdown. Once you get any kind of back pain or ache, it's important that you deal with it immediately because back problems left unattended lead to surgery or worse. We use back muscles in almost all our daily activities from standing up to sitting down or picking things up and therefore it's hard to heal a sore back. Some conditions or diseases can cause back pain like pregnancy (carrying that extra weight around your mid-section), scoliosis, kidney stones, endometriosis, stress or infections. Many people who have very stressful lives experience sore and aching necks that lead to back problems. When is it time to see a doctor? Some signs are numbness or tingling, severe pain that doesn't go away with rest, back pain after a fall or injury, constantly sore back muscles. Your doctor may do an MRI, a CT scan, run X-Rays or take blook to figure out your back pain. Most back pain be treated with medications and therapeutic exercise to help the person recover. In some circumstances, surgery will be necessary for things like an herniated disc, spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, degenerative disc disease, or vertebral fractures. Acute back pain tends to start quickly and last only about 6 weeks, while chronic back pain (less common than acute pain) lasts more than 3 months. We will go into treatments, medications, and preventive measures below.

Preventive Measures:

Hopefully your back is not so ruined that you can't do preventive measures to keep it from acting up. You can prevent most types of back pain by doing a few things. First, keep your weight in a healthy range (check with a doctor or nutritionist) for your age and body type. Exercise as often as possible (3 times a week for at least 30 minutes) and concentrate some of that time on strengthening not only your back but your abdominal muscles since they keep your torso strong and sturdy. When lifting anything heavy, always lift with your legs by bending at the knees to take stress of your back. You want your back to remain as straight as possible when lifting anything. Probably the most common type of back injury is self-imposed by people lifting too much (showing off) or by bending in an awkward position to pick something up. I have done this several times with my 2 kids. I'll go to pick them up off of a couch or put them down and all of a sudden feel a sharp pain in my side and back. It goes away every time, but one day I may pay the price with a severe back ache that doesn't disappear.

Chiropractors:

Should you see a doctor or a chiropractor? Depends on the type of back problems you are having and how severe they are. Some back pain can be eliminated by seeing a chiropractor, but more severe back problems need a doctor to perform a surgery (like herniated discs). The one complaint I have against chiropactors is that they don't necessarily claim to cure back problems, they will only relieve them temporarily by adjusting your spine. There was a recenty article on the Mayoclinic.com website about chiropractic care versus conventional to see which method works better on back problems. Researchers say both types of treatment are equal for relieving acute low back pain. When it comes to more chronic or severe pain often more intensive treatments by conventional methods do better.

Back Pain Medications:

Acute back pain will most likely get better with time and medication is not always needed. Taking ibuprofen, acetaminophen, or aspirin can at least dull the pain temporarily until the symptoms have gone away. If you have chronic back pain hot and cold compresses work fairly well. A hot pack can help with muscle pain and spasms while cold packs keep swelling to a minimum and numb pain. Often exercise can reduce chronic pain. For medications, consider topical analgesics like ointments and creams that get rubbed on the skin. Muscle relaxants are sometimes prescribed, although the jury is still out if they work for long term back pain. Instead of traditional medicines, you may also consider alternative treatments like acupuncture or acupressure.

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