Dr. Manjunath

Most of us, experience back pain due to incorrect posture or longer duration of sitting.

Sometimes you may experience back pain because of exertion - you spent the entire day doing the same kind of job or maybe you bent in a wrong manner while picking up your child. However, the actual cause of your spinal agony may not be very clear, but it pays to be aware of the possible reasons that can cause backache. It is good to consult a doctor if your back pain is consistent and recurrent.

Here are few of the causes:

1. The position of your pelvis: The pelvis consists of three bones that can shift depending on which muscles become weak or stiff. This brings about a pull in the muscle of the lower back, resulting in severe strain to this area. You should consult a physiotherapist for suggestions regarding the best exercises for strengthening your pelvic area.

2. Weak abdominal muscles: A cause of your back pain can be weak stomach muscles. Abdominal muscles play an important role in balancing out the constant bending that your back muscles perform. When you've weak abdominal muscles, your spine is not able to maintain proper balance, resulting in severe stress on the spinal column.

3. Disc injuries: Located between the bones of your spine, discs perform the function of a shock absorber. Physical injury to these padded cushions can cause them to break open, leading to a condition known as herniated disc. This can then bring about pain in the back area.

Few other causes behind back pain

1. Weak back muscles
2. Weak osteoporotic back bones
3. Disc disease
4. Facet joint arthopathy (degenerative or traumatic )
5. Sacro Iliac joint pain
6. Infection of the spinal bones
7. Most of us, experience back pain due to incorrect posture or longer duration of sitting. Some people inherit back pain. Degenerative disc disease can be genetic or inherited. That is why we see degenerative spinal changes causing chronic back pain in some young age group patients without any apparent cause.
8. Cancers which can be primary or metastasis
9. Psychogenic 

Few precautions that can be taken for a hurting back. Despite the causes, there are certain precautions that you can take, which are:

• Avoid sitting in a bad posture, that is, keep your back straight as much as you can. Pull and stretch your body in continual intervals to keep it relaxed.
• Consult the right physician instead of doing exercise that can aggravate your pain.
• Take a break from work and go for short walks, every couple of hours.

Treatment: 

Most often back pain will resolve itself in 3 to 6 weeks time and does not need to be treated. Please note, bed rest of no more than 2 days is required. Bed rest may weaken the back muscles and prolong back pain. If the back pain continues or increases, investigations are required. Expensive Investigations like MRI is usually over prescribed and will be needed only if neuro deficit is present or infection is suspected. 

Treatment includes

1. Physical rehabilitation and Pain medication like NSAID.
2. Neuropathic pain medications for neural compression (gabapentin or pregabalin).

Minimally invasive procedures which have revolutionised the treatment for back pain and saved millions from spinal surgeries include

1. Radiofrequency ablation treatment for Facet pain
2. Transforaminal blocks for nerve compression
3. SCS for chronic back pain
4. Intra thecal pumps
5. Intradiscal Radiofrequency procedures. ( this procedure makes the disc painless ).

Surgery should be the last option and should be restricted to patients having progressive neuro deficit. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a Pain Management Specialist.

Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice. A research group from Boston University School of Medicine tested yoga's effects on lower-back pain. Over twelve weeks, one group of volunteers practiced yoga while the control group continued with standard treatment for back pain. The reported pain for yoga participants decreased by one-third while the standard treatment group had only a five percent drop. Yoga participants also had a drop of 80% in the use of pain medication.

Electric pads, hot water bottles, and gel packs or moist such as damp clay packs are the common hot agents used for hot therapy.