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The Anatomy of Back Pain

The Anatomy of Back Pain

Feb 1st, 2024

Archive for the ‘ Pain Management ’ Category

The Anatomy of Back Pain

Thursday, February 1st, 2024

Young professionals, new mothers or the elderly, back pain is a common complaint that affects people across age groups. Medical statistics suggest that around 8.75 crore Indians suffer from lower back pain. Whether it’s a dull ache or a sharp, stabbing sensation, back pain can make it difficult to carry out everyday tasks. However, understanding the causes, warning signs, and potential treatment options can help you navigate this often debilitating condition.

Common Causes of Back Pain

Back pain can stem from various causes, ranging from minor muscle strains to more serious degenerative conditions. These include:

  • Muscle or Ligament Strain
    Repeated heavy lifting or sudden awkward movements can strain back muscles and spinal ligaments, leading to discomfort.
  • Degenerative Spondylolisthesis and Intervertebral Disk Degeneration
    These are age-related conditions that can cause chronic low back pain over time.
  • Arthritis
    Osteoarthritis can affect the lower back. Sometimes, arthritis affecting the spine can result in a condition known as spinal stenosis, which involves the narrowing of the space around the spinal cord.
  • Skeletal Irregularities
    Conditions like scoliosis, a curvature of the spine, can lead to back pain, but generally not until middle age.
  • Osteoporosis
    This condition can lead to compression fractures in your spine’s vertebrae, causing severe back pain.

Warning Signs and Red Flags of Back ache

While most back pain is benign, some symptoms may indicate a more serious condition requiring immediate medical attention:

  • Severe back pain that doesn’t get better with rest
  • Pain that radiates down one or both legs, especially if the pain extends below the knee
  • Unexplained weight loss, fever, or chills
  • Loss of bowel or bladder control
  • Back pain following a fall, blow to your back or other injury

Treatment Options for Back Pain

The treatment for back pain largely depends on the cause and severity. Here are some common treatment options:

  • Exercise and Physical Therapy
    Regular movement can help reduce stiffness and boost muscle strength, supporting the structures in the back.
  • Medication
    Over-the-counter pain relievers and anti-inflammatory drugs often help with mild to moderate back pain.
  • Complementary Therapies
    Some people find relief from complementary therapies like massage, acupuncture, spinal manipulation, yoga, and cognitive-behavioral therapy.
  • Surgery
    When required patients are suggested to undergo a spine surgery to help relieve their condition.

Prevention and Care Tips

Preventing back pain is easier than treating it. Here are some practical tips:

  • Maintain a Healthy Weight
    Extra weight can put pressure on your lower back. Keeping within a healthy weight range can help prevent back pain.
  • Stay Active
    Regular physical activity, particularly core-strengthening exercises, can keep your back muscles strong and flexible.
  • Mind Your Posture
    Good posture is crucial, whether you’re sitting, standing, or lifting objects.

Back pain can be complex and multifaceted, but understanding its causes, warning signs, and treatment options can help you manage it effectively.

Back Pain Treatment at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital

Are you suffering from back pain and suppressing it with painkillers and rest? It is time for some detailed diagnosis. Consult highly trained spine experts at our Centre for Bone & Joint for further evaluation and diagnosis. We are equipped with state-of-the-art technology to help prevent, manage, treat and rehabilitate persons with a back injury. The team has conducted over 2472 spine surgeries in the past with successful outcomes and has also helped many patients heal with non-invasive techniques and rehabilitation care. Please find the below the link for further information: https://www.kokilabenhospital.com/departments/centresofexcellence/centrefor_bonejoint.html

Pain Management

Monday, February 24th, 2020

Are you always in pain?

Does pain rule your life?

Does it limit your personal and professional life?

Pain can be debilitating and frustrating. It may interfere with sleep, work, activities and quality time with friends and family. Globally, it is estimated that about one in five, or about 1.5 billion people, suffer from chronic pain. Pain management provides relief so you can lead a normal life. But pain management can be complex and needs specialists for correct diagnosis and safety monitoring.

Types of Pain

The occurrence of pain rises as people get older, and women are more likely to experience pain than men.

There are two main types of pain.

  • Acute Pain – a normal response to an injury. It starts suddenly and is usually short-lived.
  • Chronic Pain – continues beyond the time expected for healing. It generally lasts for longer than three months.

Pain may be anything from a dull ache to a sharp stab and can range from mild to extreme. You may feel pain in one part of your body or it may be widespread. Studies suggest that a person’s emotional wellbeing can impact the experience of pain. Understanding the cause and learning effective ways to cope with your pain can help improve your quality of life.

Pain Management Specialist

A pain management specialist is a physician with special training in the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of all different types of pain. Pain is a wide spectrum of disorders including acute pain, chronic pain, and cancer pain and sometimes a combination of these. As the field of medicine learns more about the complexities of pain, it has become more important to have physicians with specialized knowledge and skills to treat these conditions. An in-depth knowledge of the physiology of pain, the ability to evaluate patients with complicated pain problems, understanding of specialized tests for diagnosing painful conditions, appropriate prescribing of medications to varying pain problems, and skills to perform procedures (such as nerve blocks, spinal injections and other interventional techniques) are all part of what a pain management specialist uses to treat pain.

Causes of Pain

Here are the most common conditions when pain management is needed:

  • Cancer pain.
  • Post-operative pain.
  • Low back pain.
  • Neck pain.
  • Headache / Migraine.
  • Knee pain and joint pains.
  • Muscle pain.
  • Sports injury pains.
  • Post-stroke pains.
  • Any pain with more than 1-3 months duration, not relieved by medicines or exercises.
How is Pain Treatment Guided?

The treatment of pain is guided by the history of the pain, its intensity, duration, aggravating and relieving conditions, and structures involved in causing the pain. Pain management has a role in identifying the precise source of the problem and isolating the optimal treatment.

Pain Management Techniques

Pain management can be simple or complex, depending on the cause of the pain. Sometimes it requires a variety of skills and techniques to treat the pain. Key pain management strategies include:

  • Pain-relieving medicines.
  • Physical therapies such as heat or cold packs, massage or hydrotherapy.
  • Psychological therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy.
  • Occupational therapy.
  • Interventional procedures.
  • Physical therapy or chiropractic therapy.
  • Psychological counselling and support.
  • Acupuncture and other alternative therapies.
Pain Medicines

Many people will use pain medicine (analgesic) at some time in their lives. This may be paracetamol, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, local anaesthetics or some antidepressants.

Pain Block

A pain block is a treatment by injection around the specific nerve responsible for your pain. These injections are done under local anaesthesia, usually in an operation theatre. There is almost 100% accuracy because the exact point of injection is confirmed using either X-ray, Ultrasound or CT scan guidance.

Meet specialists at our Department of Pain Management and Palliative Care. They are equipped with advanced pain blocks like Radiofrequency Ablation, Nucleoplasty, Spinal Cord Stimulators, Intrathecal Pumps, etc., which help treat specialised pain conditions like Post Back Surgery Pain Syndrome, Trigeminal Neuralgia and Advanced Cancer Pain.