Even children sometimes experience lower back pain. Adults know the problems firsthand. To cope with it, you need to find out: why the lower back hurts, what are the reasons. The range of causes is wide: from benign conditions to urgent ones that require medical attention. Once you have found the root of the disease, you will understand what to do, you can help yourself or by contacting a doctor.
Factors that provoke pain
Low back pain is a common occurrence, but from the "accidental occurrence" category. It happens suddenly and always inappropriately. There are explanations for everything, consider the possible ones in turn.
After sleep
A person wakes up in the morning, intends to get up. . . And he can't. Sharp stabbing back pain. The day before, I did not lift weights, did not give load to the muscles, where the pain comes from, it is not clear.
Action algorithm:
- With any pain, it is important to relax in order to adequately assess the situation.Panicking won't ease the pain, but it can make it worse. It doesn't work, we think lying down.
- Remember yesterday.If you spent it in the office, and in the evening on the TV or computer, and this is your usual routine, the muscles experience (don't be surprised) overload. Constantly, every day. They don't have time to relax at night. Passive rest does not help unstressed muscles recover. A static load is heavier than a dynamic one. The first (static) - being in the same position - overloads some muscles, leaving others without work. Dynamics (movement) involves many of the muscles.
- We continue to analyze.You load the muscles evenly, do a minimum of exercise, sit not eighteen hours a day, but wake up with pain in the lower back.
Possible causes:
- Uncomfortable posture during sleep;
- Bed too hard or too soft;
- Manifestation of internal diseases.
The last circumstance is rarely related to sleep. A person may feel bad after waking up, because in a dream the body is relaxed, sensations are dull. The perception of a smart person is sharp, he moves - the suffering organ reacts.
- If you have calmed down, analyzed the situation, found the cause of the pain - act.When you are convinced: muscle pain, which is not accompanied by pathology of the organs, get up gently. It doesn't work - roll over the edge of the bed, slide to the floor. There you will exercise to relieve muscle spasm - this is your treatment.
Back pain after sleep, which appeared for the first time, usually occurs for the reasons listed above.The deep, main reason is exercise, muscle weakness.Weakened muscles react to factors that strong ones "don't notice". Not the stiffness / softness of the bed, difficult movement and weak muscles give pain.
Learn more about sleep comfort. Which bed is better: a controversial question, the answers to which are diametrically opposed. Supporters of a firm bed insist on the use of a shield under the mattress, calling such a bed - orthopedic. It is believed that in a firm bed the spine straightens, which is good for posture.
Opponents of stiffness promote a thick soft mattress that allows the body to "sink" into the filler. In a semi-suspended state, the muscles and spine occupy an arbitrary position. Advertisers of "soft sleep" argue: it is more useful, the approach is physiological. The mattress is also called orthopedic.
Lower back pain in both women and men occurs after sleeping in any bed. Extremes are not the best solution. Our sturdy ancestors, the peasants, slept on chests or stoves, making beds with feather beds. The middle option. The posture was excellent, the pain after waking up was not typical for the young and old.
To keep the body in shape, the muscles - active, regular exercise will help: exercise. Muscle training. How to help yourself "here and immediately" - we will definitely talk about it. When we consider all the possible causes and find out what could be, why the back pain appeared.
You can feel pain and burning in other cases, with diseases of the spine, injuries. Then they are non-specific, disturbing mornings regardless of "sleep" time.
After training
Lack of load leads to weakness, muscle atrophy, overload - it will reward pain for diligence. Memo to trainees: take "hurry up, slow down" as your recovery motto. It is not always possible to arrange the wings of strength and health.Graduality is the key to success.
Calculating the optimal load is not difficult, you need two indicators:
- HR (heart rate, the number of heart beats per minute is measured);
- Arterial pressure.
Heart rate measurements are performed three times:
- Before the class;
- At the end of the training;
- 5 minutes after class.
In a relatively healthy person with an initial pulse of 70-72, immediately after training, the heart rate can increase with an adequate load up to 120 (no more). After 5 minutes, the pulse should slow down: become below 100 beats. If the heartbeat remains more frequent, the load is excessive, the muscles will respond with subsequent pain. The lower back is no exception.
Blood pressure should also return to normal within five minutes. This knowledge will tell you what to do so that pain in the lower back muscles does not appear after training.
Because of negative emotions
A person who is prone to feelings or who has fallen into a severe prolonged stressful situation may experience pain of varying intensity in the lower back. They are not associated with an organic lesion of the spine. The causes of back pain in the lumbar region lie in the body's reaction to stress.Nervous tension causes muscle spasms.Spasmodic muscles signal a malfunction in their work - pain.
This happens not only in the lumbar region, muscle spasm can occur anywhere. Such a symptom in medicine is called psychosomatic pain.
Regular exercises aimed at strengthening and developing muscles, forming a "muscle belt" - preventing neurological pain.
Diseases of the spine
Diseases of the spine itself, dysfunction of the muscles adjacent to it, are more difficult to treat. The main assistants: will, persistence, patience. Diseases have individual causes. The treatment method depends on its nature.
INJURY
The muscles of the spine are injured for two reasons:
- Self-harm by ignorance: not knowing the physiology of one's own body, improper "use" of the body.
- External influence (accidents, elements, unforeseen circumstances).
Self-mutilation is not done on purpose (exceptions are rare, we are talking about something else here), injuries occur through carelessness. The man did not calculate his strength, he pulled a heavy object and at the same time turned awkwardly. Caused spinal cord injury in the lumbar region. The pain is sharp, sharp, does not allow to move.
This happens more often in men: they work more with weights.Standard recommendations of doctors:
- Restriction of movements (bed rest);
- Powerful injections for back and lower back pain;
- Heating friction, ointments, compresses, heating;
- Physiotherapy procedures;
- Massage;
- Exercise therapy - after a decrease in intensity, alleviation of symptoms and during remission.
Let's take a closer look at the essence of medical prescriptions:
- Rest (restriction of movements). The muscles are spasmodic, tense, some of them are blocked by the wrong load. Depriving the patient of mobility, the doctor involuntarily fixes this blockage: immobility will not relieve the spasm. Muscles become rigid - lose flexibility, staying tense for a long time. Muscle tissue quickly weakens throughout the body deprived of movement. These are the prerequisites for the transition of the disease into a chronic form.
- Painkillers. Injections "suppress" the symptoms, it is easier for the patient. But it has no therapeutic effect. The reason remains, the person simply feels less pain for two to three hours. Strong drugs are also strong, giving side effects. Often used to relieve pain attacks in the lumbosacral spine, a drug from the group of phenylacetic acid derivatives causes serious problems with the gastrointestinal tract. Even other pain relievers are not without side effects. And they are used for a long time, whereas.
- The pain is always swollen. It is visible or hidden, but pain and swelling coexist without fail. Edema is aggravated by heat manipulations. The situation is the same: the pain fades, the problem remains or progresses.
- Physiotherapy for spasmodic muscles is close to the placebo effect. Best case scenario.
- Skillful massage will benefit, relax the muscles. Careful hitting is useless, use a special massage that relieves spasms. It is painful at first, but it helps in a quick recovery.
- Exercise is essential immediately after an injury. Through the pain, the right movements bring the muscles back to normal without medication. It is necessary to know the correct diagnosis, focusing on it, choose a set of exercises. Leave the diagnosis to the doctor.
Severe injuries (soft tissue lacerations, fractures) require hospitalization, sometimes surgery. But in rehabilitation, the main thing is the development and strengthening, restoration of damaged muscles. Drug anesthesia is a temporary measure, recovery is achieved with regular exercise.
Osteochondrosis
Osteochondrosis is called dystrophic changes in the intervertebral discs:
- The cartilage tissue of the discs wears out if the muscles that secure the spine, adjacent to it, are poorly developed, slow. The back is fragile without the support of a reliable muscle belt, the load on the discs is uneven.
- The discs flatten, the tissues around them lose their elasticity, spasms. The pain reflex is transmitted from the compression site by the disc vertebrae: from the spasmodic muscles through the nerve to the brain.
- The ends of the vertebrae are deformed, begin to grow, also damaging the muscles.
- The chronic process is formed gradually, pain sensations are distant from its beginning. It progresses from discomfort and dull pain - increasing, intense. It often leads to disability.
Osteochondrosis often occurs in men who are forced to lift weights. The disease often develops in women. Women tend to be more sedentarylack of movement weakens the musculoskeletal system. Staying in one position for a long time strains some muscle groups without engaging others. There is pain in the spine in the middle part and in other segments.
The scheme is the same: muscle spasm, the signal from the pain receptors from the compressed discs is read by the nerve, the person feels debilitating pain. It is called "radicular syndrome" (doctors explain this by squeezing the root of the spinal cord). Hypodynamia should be blamed along with an irresponsible attitude towards health. Muscle tissue is able to recover, so it needs your conscious help. A pinched nerve (the second, incorrect, name of the syndrome, since the nerve does not contain pain receptors, it transmits an impulse from the edematous muscles) is not easy to cure. Will, patience, time are your allies.
Treatment is performed in a hospital or outpatient clinic, as well as for injuries that do not require surgery. Doctors use painkillers, prescribe anti-inflammatory and sedative injections.
Full muscle work can be restored only with regular exercise. Thoughtful, competent exercise system. Choose from a significant variety of medical author rehabilitation methods - suitable for you.
spondilosis
Untreated, progressive osteochondrosis against the background of a number of violations in the regime and the body itself can develop into spondylosis. The growth of bone tissue is an adaptive response of the body. Skeletal muscles, the spine, do not carry. He tries to keep with his strength, pushing out the supports - bone spikes. Processes in advanced cases grow together with neighboring vertebrae. The spine is fixed, becomes rigid, movements in the lower back are blocked.
Creeps (growths) at the ends of the spinal segments constantly damage the adjacent tissues.
Stop the disease in time, or rather prevent it.Do not allow the transition of osteochondrosis to spondylosis: the second is more difficult to cope with.
At least half an hour - forty minutes of simple exercises (don't forget gradual) every day. Add regularity to gradualness: do not skip classes. The result in two to four weeks, they will be tangible. The time for a complete cure depends on the initial condition: how far the disease has progressed.
Proper gymnastics will definitely improve your well-being, but it will only ease the neglected phase, not cure it. The disease is serious. Operations for spondylosis are ineffective. Treatment is symptomatic. Anesthetize with ointments, injections.
The use of drugs is advisable if the pain in the lumbosacral region is unbearable. Dosage and frequency - adjust.For muscles strengthened by exercise, the need for anesthesia disappears.The pain will subside. Prevention will serve as a guarantee of their non-return: gymnastics for muscles, joints and the whole body. At the same time, the body heals completely.
Spondylarthrosis
Pain in the lumbosacral spine is pronounced in spondylarthrosis. The pain can spread to the buttocks and thighs.
The disease is characterized by damage to the joints located between the bodies of the spine. The cartilage of the joint is destroyed, the bone tissue is broken. Nearby muscles and ligaments are inflamed and tense. Mobility is reduced. The disease progresses, appears in the elderly, young people rarely suffer - with congenital abnormalities of the spine.
Factors that provoke spondylarthrosis:
- Older age:
- Floor;
- Obesity;
- Heavy physical work in the past;
- Power sports (barbell);
- Injuries;
- genetic predisposition.
In women, spondylarthrosis occurs twice as often. This fact is associated with metabolic disorders (fluctuations in the level and composition of hormones - pregnancy, menopause). It affects the statistics and the difference in the average life expectancy of the different sexes. The age bar for spondylarthrosis is high, women overcome it more often.
The doctor decides how to treat, operations are not indicated. The procedures aim to reduce pain. The doctor will prescribe possible medications and exercises.
Radiculitis
If you do not cure osteochondrosis, it can be complicated by sciatica. The symptoms are similar, but the disease is more severe. Nerve fibers are affected - bundles located in the muscles adjacent to the spine along the spine. Pain in the lower back aching, pulling, radiating to the buttocks and left leg, can indicate sciatica, osteochondrosis, spinal hernia. The pain also radiates to the right leg, less often it is bilateral. With sciatica, it is difficult to find a position that relieves the intensity of the pain. The pain radiates to the legs and with other health disorders of the spine, consult a doctor:High-quality diagnosis is half the success in treatment.
Radiculitis in the absence of competent treatment leads to a curvature of the spine. A frequent complication of the disease is a vertebral hernia, a protrusion of a disc compressed by the vertebrae. With a hernia of the lumbar spine, the pain is constant, this is a serious consequence of sciatica.
The onset of radiculitis, like osteochondrosis, has similar causes:
- Violation of standing;
- Muscle detraining;
- flat feet;
- The habit of "holding the back" incorrectly when walking, sitting, working and resting;
- Violation of metabolic processes.
If osteochondrosis develops, pain and burning in the back appear, deal with the problem immediately. Until it got worse.
Radiculitis is treated with the same method as osteochondrosis:
- Eliminate pain - apply ointments, gels, medicines;
- Relief of inflammation;
- Strengthen the muscular system with exercises.
tuberculous process
The infectious disease tuberculosis can cause muscle inflammation of any location. If the muscles of the lower back are inflamed, pain is felt there. The tuberculous process in the bone tissue of the vertebrae is due to the penetration of specific tuberculosis bacteria into the vertebral tissue with the blood stream. This provokes the development of tuberculous spondylitis or osteomyelitis (bacteria infect the bone marrow of the spine).
Diseases of lumbar tuberculosis etiology are accompanied by severe pain in the advanced stage.
What should you do if you are diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis? Follow the instructions of an experienced doctor. Delay in treatment is dangerous: the spine is gradually deformed: the vertebrae are destroyed, a lump is created.
The treatment is long, antibacterial, sometimes surgical. Load limitation is recommended. Medical supervision is necessary even after achieving remission.
tumor
Tumor processes in the lumbar spine and adjacent tissues cause pain, which increases with the growth of the neoplasm. Unpleasant sensations give tumors of any kind: benign and malignant.
If a tumor is suspected, a thorough examination and treatment is vital.Symptoms may resemble a pinched nerve, sciatica or spinal hernia. Therefore, it is important to consult a doctor, establishing a reliable diagnosis.
Diagnosis is difficult due to the similarity of symptoms with other diseases. Night and morning pains are characteristic. A tumor involving the spinal cord is more severe prognostically.
Benign tumors are treated with surgery, they are removed. Malignant ones are formed more often by metastases from other organs, it is difficult to cure them. You need to contact an oncologist, he will plan and carry out the treatment. Treatment tactics: anesthesia, supportive therapy, if necessary - surgery.
Diseases of internal organs
disease, symptoms |
Why does the lower back hurt? |
Necessary actions |
|---|---|---|
A stroke is a violation of blood circulation in the brain. Failure of most body functions - speech, motor, mental. |
Acute circulatory failure due to rupture or narrowing of a vessel can affect the spinal cord. Its functions are disturbed, hypoxia occurs. This causes pain. |
Urgent call for an ambulance helper. |
Acute atypical appendicitis |
The pain appears in places not characteristic of this disease - the epigastrium, the left side or the lower back. |
Call an ambulance, hospitalization and surgery are possible. |
Pyelonephritis, ICD (kidney disease) |
The inflammatory process (pyelonephritis) or the advancement of a kidney stone provokes pain in the lower back and lower abdomen of varying intensity - from pain to acute, unbearable. |
Call an ambulance. |
Intestinal obstruction. Acute life-threatening condition: retention of stool and gas, vomiting, nausea, food masses do not move through the intestines. Cold sweat, rapid pulse, drop in blood pressure. |
Pain in the form of contractions can be given in the lower back. |
Emergency station at the hospital. |
Reflected pain |
Give them:
|
Doctor's examination, examination, diagnosis, followed by appointment of adequate treatment. |
women's issues
The causes of pain are not always pathologies, if we talk about women. Sometimes they extend to purely female physiology.
During pregnancy
Painful pains in the lumbar region in expectant mothers can be conditionally attributed to pain. This is a natural feeling of heaviness: the child grows, the stomach grows, the weight in the pelvic region is the greatest. This gives an increased load on the spine in the lumbar region. Imagine that you have a bag tied to a belt, a bucket or a bucket and a half of water has been poured into it. After walking with such a load for several hours, even a man will feel tired, his lower back will hurt. Carrying a child is not an easy joy by any means. 
In the early stages, the body begins to rebuild, it feels.
A healthy woman does not perceive the desired "excess weight" as a concern.Normally developed muscles, gymnastics for pregnant women neutralizes the feeling of heaviness.If the pain is intense, the lower abdomen and the lower back hurt, tell the doctor who manages the pregnancy. The doctor will help find out what it could be. Multiple pregnancy can increase severity - the load is greater than usual. Exacerbation of diseases that existed before pregnancy is not excluded, consultation with the doctor will reveal this.
Period
The normal process that shows: the woman is healthy. At the beginning of menstruation, the cervix opens a little and a pulling pain may appear. Then the internal mucous membranes that line the uterus are rejected - there may also be pain. If the pain is unbearable - see a doctor, he will tell you how to normalize menstruation. Irregular cycle may indicate hormonal disorders.
How to relieve pain
Acute muscular back pain that is not associated with organ damage can be relieved on its own, quickly and without medication.
Intensive exhalation (deep, from the abdomen) activates the diaphragm, activates blood circulation and the condition is relieved.
- Lying on the back, we place a cold object under the lower back (a heating pad with ice, a bag of frozen vegetables, etc. ), the cold also anesthetizes the edematous muscles.
- Bend the legs a little at the knees.
- We put our hands to our ears, on exhalation we raise our head and shoulders and lower it on exhalation.
Cold relieves swelling, activating blood flow to the lower back. The pain recedes.
Sit on the floor on all fours, stretch the muscles by walking with support on the palms and knees. 5-20 minutes is the optimal duration of the exercise. Edema goes away, anesthesia appears.
Lie on your back, legs on a bench (sofa, other comfortable support). Under the lower back - a heating pad with ice. Hands behind the head. As you exhale, lift the shoulder, trying to reach the knees with the elbows. Perform 20 times or more if possible. Muscles develop, swelling and spasms are removed, pain goes away.
There is a complex of exercises that strengthen the muscles of the lower back, here are the main ones that quickly relieve pain. Like an ambulance. Exercises are safe, initial pain is natural. If you start performing these movements immediately, as soon as a person feels discomfort, "pulls" the muscles, it is possible to relieve the pain syndrome in one or two sessions.
Painkillers of a medicinal nature bring temporary relief, but do not eliminate the problem.Apply, if it is unbearable, ointments, folk remedies (salt lotions, herbal baths), but the emphasis is on exercise.
Alternate between work and rest reasonably, allow yourself a good sleep.
Don't be smart: work your muscles proactively. Practice movements that eliminate muscle stagnation. They are a dynamic body. By applying reasonable sets of exercises, do not force yourself. Have patience. The work of the muscles is controlled by the mind, their ability to regenerate (recover) is amazing. Under load, new pathways are innervated, bypassing damaged ones, and temporarily lost functions of muscles affected by disease or external influence are restored.
Anatomical changes are only related to pathways. Health, well-being, mobility - are back.
There is no better investment than investing in your health. It's about investing effort: exercising as part of a lifestyle. To make it a habit - every day, like brushing your teeth.
Sickness nursing is not an option. The desire to find a comfortable position for the body that relieves pain is understandable. But if "motion is life, " then peace (which you want in pain) is the antipode of life. Eternal peace - with any degree of laziness - few people are interested, so you have to worry about sick muscles. Through pain Illnesses like to be pampered (bed rest, minimal movement, warmth and other indulgences of pleasure). Butdiseases retreat before the brave, overcoming the fear of experiencing pain and through it itself. Get over self-pity: it's an excuse for laziness and fear. A little courage, regular easy work and you will forget about back pain.