"You know what? Every time I have low back pain, it's like someone is cutting my back and cutting my flesh with a knife! 」
Have you ever experienced discomfort like low back pain? Low back pain is very common, but everyone has different pain methods, but it usually has several characteristics:
●? Bending forward is more painful than lifting heavy objects.
●? Sitting for a long time will make your back more painful, and standing for a long time will make it more and more painful.
●? I feel more comfortable lying down.
Before introducing the causes of low back pain, let's look at the anatomical structure of the spine. The spine, commonly known as the "keel", is not a bone-like head leading to * * *, but a section of the spine overlapping. There is intervertebral disc cartilage between bones, and the intervertebral disc can cushion the friction between bones. The weight of our upper body will put pressure on the spine of our lower body. The lower the spine, the greater the pressure. Today, if we have low back pain, what may be the reason? In fact, the most common reason is not the spine itself, but hyperactivity. Cleaning up the accumulated water a few days after the rain, cleaning up after the Chinese New Year, or preparing a rich bye-bye in Purdue, Central Plains, may induce low back pain. Because the muscles and ligaments are overstretched after excessive activity, resulting in muscle tension or ligament injury, which leads to pain, but this type of low back pain usually relieves after a few days, so there is usually no need to worry too much.
If low back pain is caused by excessive activity, it will generally return to normal in a few days. However, if the pain does not improve for several days, don't think that it is just a muscle strain, but worry about whether it is caused by "disc injury". There are several possible injuries to intervertebral discs. After all, although the intervertebral disc is the cartilage responsible for absorbing the impact force, it will still wear and shrink with the degradation of the body, resulting in "intervertebral disc degradation", so that the intervertebral disc is no longer as full as it was when it was young. At this time, the hard bone friction of the spine, that is, degenerative arthritis of the spine, will make patients feel low back pain and stiffness.
In addition, "disc herniation" is also a common cause of low back pain. It's like driving on the road and suddenly encountering a concave hole, and the tire suddenly burst. After the intervertebral disc may be suddenly impacted, the colloidal contents in the center will rush out, and the protrusion will compress the spinal nerve. Disc herniation not only brings low back pain, but also may affect nerve conduction by pressing the sciatic nerve that dominates the lower limbs and buttocks, causing sciatica and making people ache all the time. Our bodies will degenerate with age, and daily activities will bring wear and tear to the spine day and night, making joints and ligaments gradually fail, making it difficult to keep the spine in its original position. This problem is called "spondylolisthesis", that is, the spine slides forward and the original relative position deviates, which may compress the nerves and lead to low back pain.
Bone degeneration, in the process of spinal degenerative arthritis, the intervertebral disc becomes flat, which increases the chance of bone friction, leading to the continuous changes of the spine and bone spurs, which may surround the nerve outlet. At the same time, spinal degenerative arthritis will also bring friction and thickening of ligaments, leading to nerve outlet stenosis, which is called "spinal stenosis", and patients will also show low back pain.
Most of the diseases of spine and intervertebral disc mentioned just now occur in older patients. However, if there is scoliosis, abnormal changes in spinal curvature may begin to appear in adolescence, which may lead to nerve compression and cause back pain and foot pain.
To sum up, most low back pain is related to overuse. If you really overuse your back for a while before low back pain, you can wait and see if it gets better. But if it doesn't improve after a few days, you may need to check what caused the back pain. Especially when you have a fever, chills, weight loss, or back pain, you should remember to see a doctor as soon as possible. Patients with diabetic neuropathy should be especially careful.
After seeing a doctor, the doctor may arrange X-ray, nuclear magnetic resonance and computed tomography to diagnose the cause of the patient's low back pain. In terms of treatment, besides medication such as painkillers, physical therapy is often helpful. Physiotherapists can teach patients to use alternating hot and cold compress to improve symptoms, or use physical therapy such as * * * and ultrasound to alleviate discomfort. Sometimes these effects are not achieved overnight, but also with proper stretching and lower back muscle training to strengthen muscle endurance. Some people will improve their symptoms by fixing them with a back frame. If non-surgical treatment has been carried out for six months, but the condition has not improved, surgical treatment should be considered according to the cause. It should be noted that surgery is not the last line of defense for all low back pain symptoms, and surgery will only be considered if the cause of low back pain is clearly found. In other words, although some patients have been suffering from chronic and long-term back pain, they can't be solved by surgery, can't find the cause and don't know what medicine to prescribe.
In the surgical treatment section, we will talk about two kinds of operations, one is spinal fusion and the other is intervertebral disc replacement. The concept of spinal fusion is that when the spine is unstable, scoliosis, or intervertebral disc degeneration is serious, moving from one segment to another will make the patient feel pain. Therefore, in order to reduce the pain caused by a certain activity of the spine, we will fuse the vertebrae together to reduce the activity of the spine that causes pain, so that it will not cause pain.
There are various surgical methods for spinal fusion, and bone graft, screw and bracket can be selected to help the connection between vertebrae. The way can be from the stomach, from the side or from the back. At the same time, there are various operation methods, which also implies that no method is more powerful or effective at present. Although some patients can get rid of back pain, some patients feel little or no help after the operation. Disc replacement is probably a concept that everyone can understand. Intervertebral disc is cartilage, which is easy to wear. If it is really unbearable to use, we will replace the intervertebral disc with artificial medical equipment to keep the spine more elastic and close to normal mobility, and reduce the pain caused by hard collision of the spine, just like our concept of replacing the knee joint.
Many people have experienced low back pain. It can only be said that our daily activities have the opportunity to wear the spine and intervertebral disc, and time is a butcher knife. With the growth of age, all parts of the body gradually degenerate, and there are more and more uncomfortable situations here! Therefore, we should pay more attention to our living habits and life choices, and try to prolong the service life of each part. Regarding the prevention of low back pain, you can maintain a good posture at ordinary times. Your posture of standing, sitting, moving and picking things are all related to the health of your spine. Even young people must be careful when lifting heavy objects. Don't use brute force or bend over to lift heavy objects. Bend your knees and squat straight, and it is better to lift heavy objects with the strength of your thighs.
Pay attention to maintaining a healthy weight at ordinary times. Overweight will bring extra burden to the spine, and underweight people are not conducive to maintaining bones. Exercise is also important. Do more aerobic exercise such as swimming and brisk walking to maintain cardiopulmonary function, and do more exercise to maintain core muscles. You can read the article "Six core tricks for training, do a good job in spine health care" and practice more to maintain core health. Finally, if you still smoke, you must give up smoking. Cigarettes can accelerate people's whole body aging, and the spine is certainly not immune.
Extended reading
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