Back Pain Symptoms
These days, there are higher chances of coming across people complaining about back pain. This ailment has caught so many people and with such intensity, that I am beginning to envision a day when people would greet each other by asking 'how is your back pain,' rather than 'how are you?' Many things are responsible for making back pain so ill famous. The top among that is our lifestyle. There are many instances that we unknowingly or unintentionally harm the body elements giving birth to back pain. You will easily relate to some activities where we instantly bend or twist our body spraining our muscles. When the tissues in muscles and ligaments could not bear the sudden pressure or abrasion, it results in back pain. If they are grievously affected, it could cause you excruciating pain on the lower back.
There are various causes, which add to your back pain. Some of them are quite knotty to get to the base of the problem. However, there are different methods to determine the back pain causes. Doctors usually rely on the symptoms and your medical history to diagnose the ailment. In extreme cases where there is a fracture or a disc slip, you may have to go for an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scan.
To understand the back pain diagnosis, let us look at the causes and symptoms of back pain.
Causes of back pain
First, the duration of the back pain is very essential in determining the correct diagnosis. When the pain is for shorter duration in between three to six months, then this type is acute pain. This pain is mostly because of hurting the body tissues. The other type of back pain is chronic. This pain occurs due to injury where the doctors may advice a spine surgery.
Some of the common back pains you may inflict are:
- Incorrect sitting and standing position
- Bending suddenly, or standing for longer hours
- Use of a chair with no back rest
- Lifting or pulling weights out of our capacity
- Falling on the back and injuring the muscles
- Physical effort of pressure put on joints
- Contraction of muscles
- Lack of calcium and enzymes in the body
- Unhealthy lifestyle and absence of exercise
- Failure or improper functioning of kidneys
- Age-related problems such as arthritis
- Sitting on one place for longer period
- Overweight or obesity
- Degeneration of bones
In short, pressure on joints or injury, misalignment in the spinal structure, muscle tightening, ligament fracture, body weight, insomnia, and over exertion are factors are responsible for back pains.
Back pain symptoms from injury to joints
When there is any injury to joints due to extra physical efforts in finishing a task, you will feel the pain, mostly on the lower back. In this condition, the pain will reside in the lumbar back, and will not extend towards the leg.
When you feel an ache in the back when carrying a heavy parcel, most likely your back muscles may have developed a minor crack.
You will feel the pain as your muscles stiffens restricting easy movements. You will experience the pain even when the affected area is gently touched.
The patient may usually feel pain when the patient tries to complete any task. However, the patient may find some relief when she/he takes adequate rest.
Chronic back pain symptoms
The chronic back pain usually affects the lower part of the body such as hips, thighs and knee joints.
Severe pain and numbness in your lower back extending to the back of your top legs. This pain is caused because of pressure on the nerves. You will find it impossible to sit and stand without any support. Pain will also occur on the buttock.
You will feel the pain when performing certain movements such as bending, running and moving around. The intensity of the pain will not be the same. The pain would diminish at one point, and soon it would aggravate at the other moment.
Pain will occur in the lower back region when you are standing for a longer time or walking few distances. This may be the result of the minor fracture in the spine.
Back pain diagnosis
As usual, the diagnosis will start with a small interview. It is also possible that the doctor will require monitoring your condition for few days. At first, he/she may ask you to check the blood pressure and sugar level. Further, they will ask you test for a calcium deficiency. If the reports are normal, and you are still experiencing the same discomfort, additional tests would be on the card. Those tests may be x-rays of spine, CT scan, MRI and other examination depending on your condition.
Here we have seen the back pain causes, its symptoms and possible diagnosis. We would also recommend you to get yourself informed about the prevention measures for avoiding or keeping back pains at distance.