Lower back pain is the blanket term given to a number of maladies that could affect an individual. While it’s true that some forms of pain could be a simple result of soreness caused by excessive stress, there are other types of pain that aren’t going to simply go away of their own accord. Learning more about the condition can go a long way toward helping an afflicted individual overcome adversity.
When we talk about lower back pain, we’re specifically addressing the spine’s lumbar section, which corresponds to the L1 to L5 vertebrae. There are a lot of different parts to be aware of. You have the vertebrae themselves, but then there are also cushions between each known as intervertebral discs. All of these body parts run along the spinal cord, and their movement is tied together through the facet joints.
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With that in mind, it’s easy to see that “lower back pain” can’t simply be attributed to one root cause. Most injuries can be broken down to acute (tied to one particular incident) or chronic (a condition that results over the course of months or years).
If you’re involved in an accident of some sort and the damage effects your spine, this would be an acute injury. It would be easy to pinpoint, and hopefully easy to correct. Less dramatic circumstances could involve something as simple as twisting the wrong way when you lift a heavy object or carrying too heavy of a load in the incorrect manner.
Chronic pain can involve a number of different circumstances. If, over the course of time, your spinal cord gets compressed, you could suffer from sciatica, with pain and numbness spreading outward to your lower limbs. Spinal stenosis, a herniated disc, and even the development of a tumor can lead to nerve compression that creates lower back pain.
Other conditions, like fybromyalgia, may also be to blame for lower back pain. Another possibility is that you have suffered a vertebral fracture, which can mess with proper alignment. The latter is more common in those persons who suffer from osteoporosis.
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Your treatment is going to depend on the type of injury you may suffer from. With some injuries, a couple days of rest will hopefully help you get back on your feet, but for many people, additional assistance must be sought.
For most persons who come to DiscMD for help, surgery is not the chief recommendation. Physical therapy can help correct many maladies naturally, and when combined with pain management in the form of targeted injections, it has shown to hold numerous benefits for patients.
If, however, your lower back pain poses a severe detriment to your ongoing health, minimally invasive surgery may be the way to go. DiscMD has a host of options depending on your particular injury, and in almost all cases, patients who come through our doors for a procedure are allowed to head home the same day. Rehabilitation can begin shortly thereafter for such operations as spinal fusion, and complete spinal fusion recovery time will depend on the patient's willingness to avoid certain actions and embrace the regimen outlined by a doctor.
