Back Pain Causes, Risks and Help
Our back looks strong and every day it handles a lot of pressure. It consists of a great variety of ligaments, bones, tendons, muscles and disks connected into a complicated system. Sharp back pain can occur if any of these parts get affected, or due to the specific conditions (pregnancy back pain). However, in some people back pain causes are never found. Here are some back pain risks that you need to know about:
Strained muscles
The most common of all back pain causes is muscle strain. It can happen as a result of lifting too much weight, after a whiplash injury, or even because of a muscle spasm.
Structural back problems
The most common structural back problems include:
§ Disk bulge or its rupture. The disks are responsible fir cushioning the movements of the vertebrae, so when the soft filing of the disk ruptures the nerve can get compressed. The reaction of the patient depends on the seriousness of the condition: some people don’t even notice something is wrong.
§ Sciatica is commonly caused by the compression of lumbar nerves L4 or L5 or sacral nerves S1, S2 or S3, or sometimes when the sciatic nerve itself gets pinched. The symptoms include shooting felt in the back of the leg.
§ Osteoporosis. When your bones become porous, due to age or some disease, your vertebra is more easily fractured.
§ Arthritis. Osteoarthritis is more likely to affect the joints in your lower back, knees, hands and hips. Spinal stenosis can occur in some cases, which involves narrowing of the space around the spinal cord.
§ Skeletal abnormalities. In case there are some irregularities in the way your spine curves, you can experience sharp back pain. Scoliosis is among the most frequent reasons of back pain, as the side curvatures of the spine are not exactly normal.
§ Internal organ disorder. There are many other conditions that cause the situation when the patient needs back pain help. Aneurysm is a weakness of the large blood vessel (aorta) that gets ballooned. This vessel is responsible for delivering the blood from the heart to the limbs and the trunk. There are also many abnormal conditions of internal organs, such as kidneys, uterus, pancreas and pelvic organs that are likely to contribute to back pain.
Referred pain is the condition caused by an abnormality that has nothing to do with the spine. This type of back pain is hard to diagnose as the cause may not be found at all.
Rare back pain causes that you need to be aware of:
§ Cauda equina syndrome. It’s a serious but rare neurological condition that affects the nerve roots responsible for sending impulses to your legs and the lower back. The effects of this disease include leg and saddle area numbness, loss of bladder control, loss of bowel control and leg weakness.
§ Spine cancer. If there is a tumor on the spine, it can compress a nerve. This condition requires urgent back pain help.
§ Spine infection. If back pain is experienced along with a fever and the tenderness of the painful area, it can be caused by an infection.
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