Lower back pain is a very common discomfort causing condition that occurs anywhere on the back below the ribs and above the legs. The pain is very common and it is faced by most individuals at least once during their lifetime.

The most basic measures to cure your lower back pain are exercising well, eating healthy and maintaining a good body posture at all times. Here are some of the common treatment options for reducing back pain.

Spinal Manipulation

It refers to an ancient form of therapy in which your back pain is treated externally. This form of treatment is quite similar to a massage treatment and helps to relax the muscles in the lower back area, thereby reducing the pain. It is usually done by osteopathic physicians, chiropractors, occupational therapists and physical therapists.

Neurostructural integration technique (NST)

The main role of this type of treatment is to naturally reset the affected area of the body in order to allow it to regain its normal form. The results usually begin to appear after at least 2 sessions of the therapy and the effects are long lasting in nature.

Acupuncture

This is an old technique which uses small needles at strategic locations on your skin. The main aim of the acupuncturists is to re-balance the flow of energy in your body and to ensure that you have an optimal level of energy in all parts of your body. This in turn helps to regain the normal state of your lower back if the right points on the body are targeted.

Other measures

Some preventive measures which ensure that the lower back pain does not recur are as follows:

1.Keep your spine straight and posture correct
2.Avoid excessive bending, stretching or weight lifting
3. Avoid heavy physical activities like sprinting
4.Regular and light exercising

Common Treatment Options For Back Pain

Hot and Cold therapy is one of the most popular home remedies for any kind of joint pain or muscle sprain. In some cases applying heat therapy and cold therapy alternatively, can help relieve the pain while for others only one form of therapy is necessary. To understand what to use when, one should first understand the effect of heat and cooling on the body.

Applying a heat pack or immersing the affected limb in hot water improves blood circulation and makes the muscles more flexible. Thus, it can help relax a muscle and fasten the healing of damaged tissues. On the other hand, cold therapy or cryotherapy reduces blood flow to the affected site. This helps relieve inflammation and pain caused by it. It can also make the area feel numb by reducing nerve activity temporarily.

Types of Heat Therapy
Heat therapy can be categorized as dry heat and moist heat. Dry heat involves using saunas or dry heating packs to relieve pain. This is also known as conducted heat therapy. As the name suggests, moist heat involves the use of steamed towels, hot baths and moist heating packs. This is also known as convection heat therapy. Moist heat is usually considered more effective than dry heat.

Types of Cold Therapy
Cold therapy may be applied to a part of the body or to the entire body. This includes ice packs, coolant sprays, ice baths, ice massages and whole body, cold therapy chambers.

How to use heat and cold therapy?
The sooner heat and cold therapy is given to a person, the faster they will recover from their pains. Heat therapy can be given to a person for extended periods of time but when giving cold therapy, a person should not be exposed to a cold pack or ice bath for more than 10-15 minutes. Care should also be taken no to apply ice or a frozen pack directly on the skin as it can damage the skin and nerves.

When not to use Heat Therapy?
If the injury site is swollen or bruised, cold therapy is better than heat therapy. Heat therapy should also not be applied to an open wound. People suffering from conditions such as diabetes, dermatitis, deep vein thrombosis, vascular diseases and multiple sclerosis should also avoid heat therapy as these conditions can increase the risk of burns and other such complications. Pregnant women should also consult a doctor before using a hot tub or sauna.

When not to use Cold Therapy?
Cold therapy is avoidable for treating stiff joints and muscles. People suffering from poor circulation and sensory disorders should also avoid using cold therapy without a doctor s supervision. 

Hot & Cold Therapy - How It Can Treat Pain?

The bones and joints orchestrate very well with each other for smooth movements of various joints and the spine. However, due to various reasons, some identified and others unknown, there could be inflammation of the areas where the bones join the muscles leading to impaired movement. The range of motion could be reduced or it could be painful, thereby, limiting movement. Spondyloarthritis includes a group of inflammatory diseases that involves the bones and joints and enthuses which are areas where the ligaments and tendons attach to the bones. This causes conditions like plantar fasciitis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis and reactive arthritis. The term spondyloarthritis is a blanket term to describe any of the above-mentioned conditions.

Read on to know a little more in detail about it:

Causes: While the exact etiology is not identified for sure, most patients with spondyloarthritis have an autosomal dominant gene (HLA-B27). Chronic infections could trigger the onset of the disease too.

Symptoms:

1. In all forms of spondyloarthritis, there is always inflammation of the spine, joints and entheses. If the fingers or toes are involved, there could be swelling leading to what are typically known as 'sausage digits'.

2. There is sacroiliitis which is inflammation of the joint between the pelvis and the spine, and spondylitis which is inflammation of the joints between the spines. 3. Family history and autosomal dominant gene.

Diagnosis:

A detailed medical history and physical examination form the cornerstone of a confirmed diagnosis. In addition, radiographic examination and diagnostic blood tests also could be done to confirm the diagnosis. Radiographs, especially, of the spine and the low back show typical changes including sacroilitis in suspected cases of spondyloarthritis. If the spine does not show these changes, but there is a high likelihood of spondyloarthritis, then MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) can be used to confirm the diagnosis.

As a final step, a blood test for the HLA-B27 gene can also be confirmatory. However, it is not true that a person with the gene will definitely develop the disease.

Treatment:

The most important aspect of treatment is the use of pain medications and anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) which help manage pain and inflammation.
Corticosteroid injections may sometimes be given directly into the joint spaces or the membranes to provide quick relief of these symptoms.
ESWT / RSWT has a definite role to cure enthesopathy. Plantar fasciitis, and achillodynia can be cured with ESWT. Even small joints of hand and feet are amenable to treatment with RSWT. It is nonoperative and noninvasive treatment and has no side effects.
Very rarely, stronger drugs such as methotrexate or sulfasalazine may be used.
Another set of drugs known as TNF-blockers (tumor necrotizing factor blockers) are also shown to be highly effective in controlling the pain of the spine and joints.
In very severe cases, surgery may be required to correct joint damages or correct severe degenerative changes.
Exercise plays a very vital role in controlling the issue and improving range of motion.

What You Should Know About Spondyloarthritis?

You must have often heard about sports person, especially those associated with tennis or baseball (that involves continuous arm movement) suffer from rotator cuff injury. But what exactly is this injury? To understand the condition better, you need to know what is a rotator cuff. A rotator cuff is a group of tendons and muscles that keep the shoulder joints stable enabling a person to rotate or lift their shoulders freely.

With time, certain activities may cause a wear and tear of the rotator cuff injuring them. The injury sustained can result from a partial or a complete tear.
A partial tear of the rotator cuff may damage the tendons, but it will remain attached to the bones. However, in the case of a complete tear, the injury is more severe that penetrates deep within detaching the tendons off the bone (humerus).

Who can suffer from a Rotator Cuff Injury?
While the condition can affect anyone, people under the following situations stand a greater chance of injuring their rotator cuff.

People in their old age may suffer from the Rotator Cuff injury as with age the tendons and muscles may undergo a degeneration.
The injury may also be genetically linked.
The problem is found to be common among tennis and baseball players.
Painters, as well as carpenters who need to move their arms and shoulders continuously in a particular direction, stand at a risk of injuring the rotator cuff.
Symptoms associated with a Rotator Cuff Injury
People with a Rotator Cuff Injury may exhibit the following symptoms and associated discomfort.

The rotator cuff ensures the free and comfortable rotation of the arm and the shoulder. An injury will limit this rotation. As a result, a person may experience great difficulty and pain in lifting and moving the arm.
Lying on the affected shoulder can be a painful experience.
There is instability of the shoulder joints followed by weakness.
A person finds it difficult to carry out the basic activities such as bringing a glass of water close to the mouth or combing the hair.
Treatment

Anti-inflammatory drugs and painkillers (Acetaminophen) may be used to reduce the pain and swelling associated with the injury.
Physiotherapy and various strengthening exercise can go a long way to deal with shoulder weakness, stiffness, and restricted movement. However, one needs to have patience as the treatment may take time to produce the desired results.
In extreme cases, the doctor may opt for a surgery.
Arthroscopic surgery: The procedure is simple and involves a small incision on the affected shoulder to place an arthroscope (that comes fitted with a camera and the surgical instruments) to treat the condition.
The doctor may also carry out an open surgery or a mini-open surgery (an amalgamation of open and arthroscopic surgery) to fix the tear.

Rotator Cuff Injury - Symptoms Associated With It!

Arthritis refers to extreme joint pain. It could either manifest in one of the joints in the body or more than one. At times, it occurs because of a vitamin deficiency. However, it can also advance with age. This is how arthritis can be easily diagnosed:

To diagnose arthritis, your specialist will consider the side effects and symptoms. They will then take a physical exam to check for swollen joints or loss of movement.

They will then use blood tests and X-ray to affirm the conclusion. X-ray and blood tests help in identifying the sort of arthritis you have. For instance, a great many people with rheumatoid arthritis have antibodies called rheumatoid components (RF) in their blood. X-rays are used to analyse osteoarthritis, normally uncovering lost ligament, bone deformities and in many extreme cases, a bone rubbing against another bone.

Sometimes, a needle is used to draw a little specimen of liquid from the joint for testing. This is done to eliminate different sorts of arthritis. In case your specialist speculates irresistible arthritis as a confusion of some other sickness, taking a sample of liquid from the influenced joint will typically affirm the finding and decide how it will be dealt with.

Depending on what kind of arthritis you have, your doctor will recommend you different therapies. However, some of the most common treatments for arthritis are as follows: 
Occupational Therapy

Certain therapies involve long-term treatment to treat the affected joint. With the assistance of an occupational therapist, you can learn simpler approaches to do your typical exercises. A therapist can show you how to do the following:
Maintain a strategic distance from positions that strain your joints.
Utilise your most healthy joints and muscles while saving weaker ones.
Use props to support certain joints.
Medication
Joint pain treatment will rely upon the nature and level of the condition. The principle objectives are to diminish aggravation and enhance the capacity of the influenced joints before the condition worsens. Your specialist will most likely recommend acetaminophen or a non-steroidal mitigating drug (NSAID), for example, Aleve.

Surgery
Different types of surgeries might be expected to lessen the inconvenience of joint inflammation or to recover the joint capacity. Synovectomy is the expulsion of a harmed connective tissue coating a joint depression. In case that ligament pain and irritation turn out to be genuinely chronic, or ligament joints turn out to be badly damaged, the answer may lie in surgical substitution.

Non-medical management of arthritis pain:
Besides medicine-based treatment for arthritis, there are many psychotherapeutic techniques to manage the same. Enhancing patients  mental state by showing them how to unwind and perform their every day exercises at a sensible pace will also help in finding a way to defeat mental anxiety and nervousness.

Arthritis - How Can It Be Diagnosed And Cured?

When you experience any kind of bone and joint pain, you may be wondering what the best remedy might be to get relief. Some people ignore the pain, and it worsens, while others take over-the-counter medicines. However, the best remedy for bone and joint pain is to visit a pain management specialist. The field of pain management has evolved over the last twenty years. Nowadays, there are dedicated pain management specialists who are experts in treating bone and joint pain.

Here are 3 reasons to consult a pain management specialist for bone and joint pain:
1. Pain management specialists are trained especially for understanding any kind of bone or joint pain. They undergo special training based on bone and joint pain management and thus know how best to recognize and treat such pains.

2. Pain management specialists have a multidisciplinary approach towards treating bone and joint pain. The aim of pain management is to provide overall treatment and pain management specialists know about the best ways to take care of joint and bone pains. Pain management involves interventional procedures, psychological therapies, medication management and physical therapies. Pain management specialists also provide you with lifestyle modification remedies and assign you exercise schedules and diet plans. Alternative medicines like acupuncture and massage therapies are also provided by pain management specialists.

3. Pain management specialists cooperate with you and come up with the best solution for your bone and joint pain. Pain is such an aspect, which has no fixed cure and the remedy varies from person to person and depends on the nature and severity of the pain. Thus everyone should receive a personalized treatment, which is most suitable to cure the pain that has occurred to them. Pain management specialists work with patients, discuss a lot and come up with the best treatment procedure, which would complement the patient. For example, a neurostimulation device can be prescribed to a patient who suffers from complex regional pain syndrome and did not have success with other treatment procedures. In many patients with a shattered spinal disc, pain management specialists prescribe injections, which work effectively to give relief and treat the condition.

A pain management specialist can make the best assessments on bone and joint pain. Being trained especially in bone and joint pain management, you can bank upon pain management specialists to receive the best treatment for your bone or joint pain.

3 Reasons to See a Pain Management Specialist for Bone and Joint Pain

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