Many of us encounter aches and pains in our bodies on occasion, most of which show from a variety of activities. These may include poor sleeping positions, extended sitting times, over-activity during exercise, even improper lifting! Usually these aches and pains appear to go away on their own or with a minor intervention on your part.

Sometimes a pattern develops of having the issue return and go away, only to return again later, only to again go away until the next bout. EVENTUALLY, you may experience SEVERE low back pain.

Severe low back pain often results in dramatic changes in a person’s ability to perform daily mundane tasks. Getting out of bed, getting to the restroom, even tying your shoes can be affected when this strikes your life. You may become depressed; some people even become somewhat suicidal over the debilitation. Your entire outlook on life can take a dramatic turn for the worst.

The causes for severe lower back pain include a “slipped disk” which frequently results in nerve pinching or irritation, spinal misalignments again resulting in nerve pinching or irritation, muscle sprains and/or tears, and of course muscle spasms can result in severe low back pain. Through all this you need to focus on finding ALL the things that may be causing the issues, and only then begin treatment for these issues.

It is important to begin with a few things understood. First is that your body delivers pain signals to when you have injured tissue, and also to KEEP YOU from further movement which may increase injuries. This is important to know since common treatment programs often include pharmaceutical muscle relaxers which, when taken, can decrease the bodies’ ability to keep you from further injuring yourself. Most muscle tension and spasm is designed to stabilize your back due to the bodies’ ability to recognize instability being present. Don’t try to out-think your body; you’ll only end up regretting your actions later.

Differentiating the different issues affecting you is the key. This begins with describing the discomfort - sharp, stabbing, shooting and burning all indicate nerve problems. Aching, throbbing, and tearing usually indicate muscular problems. Remember that most nerve problems will have muscular counterparts within the normal defense mechanism.

Testing is necessary to differentiate these problems. EMG can be performed to determine just how damaged various muscles might be. MRIs are often used to identify soft tissue injury including muscle and discs. Nerve conduction studies or nerve biopsies are advanced tests that can be done to determine if there is any nerve damage or to help locate a pinched nerve out in an extremity.

After we know specifically what is affecting you, restoring movement patterns is beneficial to allow for return to functional daily activities. Healing is process, not an event and on-going care is required if full recovery is expected.

The greatest truth about severe lower back pain is that you can be helped! Help exists to provide symptomatic improvement, prevention of future impairments, and returning to a normal life.

• What Causes Chronic Back Pain and What You Can Do to Alleviate It
• COX-2 Inhibitor May Ease Skin Cancer Burden (CME/CE)
• Know More About Muscle-Triggered Back Pain and Muscle Balance Therapy
• The Best Four Exercises For Lower Back Pain
• Three Clinical Presentations On Tapentadol Extended Release Tablets For Chronic Pain Featured At 2009 American Pain Society Annual Meeting
• How Breast Reduction Surgery Helps Reduce Back Pain
• How to Ease Sciatica
• Back Pain and Memory Part 1
• Intensive, Progressive Physical Therapist Exercise Program Plus Educationreduces Disability And Improves Patient Function After Back Surgery
• Sciatic Nerve Therapy - The Story of the Magic Enzyme

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.