In some cases, the patient may be difficult to straighten in the standing position. The acute back pain can last from a few days to several weeks.
The causes of acute pain in the lumbar region
Most people at least once in their life experience back pain. In spite of pain or discomfort can appear in any level, the most commonly affected is the lumbar area. This is because the loin is forced to support the entire weight of his body and head.
The back pain is the second frequency, the time of treatment to the doctor, second only to the common cold and the flu.
As a rule, for the first time, the acute pain in the back, you receive after you pick up the heavy object, the sharp move, an injury or a long sitting in the same position.
Acute pain in the lumbar region, it is often the result of a sudden trauma to the muscles and ligaments of the back, herniated disc of the lumbar spine. The pain, in such cases, it may be caused by muscle spasm, spinal, stretch or rupture of the muscles and ligaments.
Cause an acute pain in the lumbar region include:
- compression fractures of the vertebrae due to trauma or osteoporosis;
- the muscle spasm (excessive muscle tension);
- hernia;
- sciatica;
- the stenosis (narrowing) of the spinal canal);
- the curvature of the spine (for example, scoliosis or kyphosis) including the illness of the President-Bad;
- stretching/breakage of the muscles or ligaments of the back;
- spondylosis;
- spondylolisthesis;
- infection of the spine (discitis, abscess.
An acute pain in the lumbar region can also cause the following systemic diseases:
- diffuse connective tissue disease;
- the disease Ankylosing;
- a malignant tumor in the spine;
- the rheumatoid arthritis.
The causes of acute back pain, not related with problems in the spinal column or in the tissues of the back:
- aneurysm of the abdominal aorta;
- gastrointestinal disorders: pancreatitis, peptic ulcer, cholecystitis;
- herpes zoster;
- disease pelvic: endometriosis, prostate cancer, pelvic inflammatory disease;
- disease spaces retroperitoneal: renal colic, pyelonephritis;
- pregnancy.
The symptoms
The symptoms of acute pain in the lumbar region vary significantly depending on their causes. You may feel numbness, tingling, the nature of the pain can be different, as well as the manifestation of pain, from a mild discomfort to a pain that you can barely tolerate. In addition, the low back pain often combined with pain in the leg, the thigh, stop. In some cases, you may receive a weakness in the foot.
Here are some examples of symptoms of different diseases and conditions:
- when intervertebral disc herniation: low back pain, often on foot, and the leg pain stronger than back pain and aggravated in the sitting position or after sleep. Low back pain can give the buttock, thigh and down the leg to the feet. You may experience a tingling sensation, numbness in foot and toes, in rare cases, - weakness of the muscles of the leg;
- during the muscle stretching lower back: pain diffuse in the lumbar region, that does not in the foot or the buttock; it is enhanced during driving and attenuated in a state of rest;
- when stenosis of the spinal canal: the pain in the back and in the leg, and the leg pain stronger than back pain, as well as the stenosis of the spinal canal, often accompanied by the development of intervertebral hernias; aggravated on standing and walking, is attenuated in a state of rest and flexed to the back. The pain can be so unilateral and bilateral;
- when the disease diffuse connective tissue: pain in multiple joints, fever, weight loss, weakness;
- when osteomyelitis: pain, often the temperature normal; blood count normal, increase the speed of sedimentation of erythrocytes (ESR) and/or the level of c reactive protein.
Diagnosis
In the consultation, the doctor will perform a conversation with the patient, setting the questions about the nature and the manifestations of pain and other symptoms, will gather information about the history and perform a physical examination. Based on the data in the conversation and the physical examination the doctor can make a diagnosis or pre-diagnosis, you must confirm and/or clarify through medical tests. Medical examinations may be different, from blood tests, and even studies of driving nervous. The most popular of the research include:
X-rays
The x-rays conducted in order to assess the bone condition of the patient. Diagnoses that can be through an x-ray, which include osteoporosis, compression fracture bone expansion (osteophytes);
The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
The advantage of magnetic resonance imaging before other studies is that, by means of magnetic resonance imaging, you can get high-quality detailed images, not just bone, but soft tissue: muscles, ligaments, vessels, nerves, intervertebral discs, spinal cord and PR.
The most common are the diagnostic findings of magnetic resonance imaging:
- intervertebral hernia;
- narrowing (stenosis) of the spinal canal;
- ankylosing.
Other diagnoses that can be with the help of magnetic resonance imaging:
- ankylosing spondylitis (type of arthritis);
- infection of the bone;
- the syndrome of tail;
- the compression fracture;
- discitis (inflammation of the intervertebral disk);
- abscess of the spinal cord;
- spinal cord injury;
- the tumor in the spine.
Computed tomography (CT)
A ct scan is also allows you to obtain the image not only bone, but also soft tissues, however, the images of much lower quality than the quality of the images, when the performance of a magnetic resonance imaging, therefore, the TC recommends to carry out an mri scan, for some reason, impossible, or difficult, for example, if you have a pacemaker or metal structures in the body.
Treatment
What you can do at home when the acute pain in the lumbar region?
- restriction of physical activity in 1-2 days. This can help alleviate the symptoms and to moderate the inflammation in the painful area;
- the attachment of the heater or of the blister ice to the painful area;
- the reception otc pain relievers. It's not worth taking these medicines in greater quantity, than is indicated in the instruction manual, taking drugs should be no more than 3 days. If during this time the pain does not pass - you should consult your doctor.
During sleep, it is better to adopt the position of the embryo, and place a pillow between the legs. If You're accustomed to sleeping on your back, place a pillow under your knees or a rolled towel to relieve the load on the back.
If the reason for the chronic low back pain is more severe, then the patient needs a specific treatment, depending on the disease or condition that caused the sensation of pain, and here already you can't do it without the help of professionals.
One of the most common causes of acute pain in the lumbar region, which requires special treatment, is the intervertebral an inguinal hernia. The treatment of the intervertebral hernia, as a rule, conservative, only occasionally, doctors have to resort to surgical techniques. There is a large number of methods of conservative treatment of intervertebral hernia. Here are just a few:
- The medication treatment. The drug treatment involves the intake of analgesics and anti-inflammatory.
- Traction of the spine. Is traction does not lead to complications in comparison with the traçãom in tables with the vector of load or goods. Traction of the spinal column allows you to partially recover the power and, as a result, the state of the intervertebral disc and help reduce the size of the intervertebral hernia;
- The massage therapy. Types of massage treatments are different. In general, this method aims to achieve relaxation of the muscles of the back, the lifting of muscle spasms, which often accompany the pain low back;
- Medical gymnastics. Medical gymnastics aims to strengthen the small muscles of the back;
- Hirudotherapy
Hirudotherapy relieves the inflammation around the hernia, reducing the pain that is caused. It is an alternative to analgesic drugs. - The surgical treatment. Surgical treatment of intervertebral hernia is only recommended to patients that does not help the conservative treatment means, provided that this treatment is performed regularly and systematically, as well as patients began treatment with symptoms expressed deficit neurological: weakness in the foot, paresis, paralysis of the legs, numbness in the groin area, the violation of control for the functions of urination and/or defecation. All of the above symptoms are indications for urgent completion of an operation in the column.