Back pain

Back pain is pain felt in the back that usually generates from muscles, nerves, bones, joints or other structures in the spine.

The pain may occur suddenly or can be a chronic pain which stay in one place or radiate to other areas. pains include dull ache, or a sharp or piercing or burning sensation. The pain may be felt in the neck (and might radiate into the arm and hand), in the upper back, or in the low back, (and might radiate into the leg or foot), and may include symptoms like weakness, numbness or tingling.

Back pain is one of humanity's most frequent complaints. The spine is a complex interconnecting network of nerves, joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments, and all are capable of producing pain. Large nerves that originate in the spine and go to the legs and arms can make pain radiate to the extremities.



Associated conditions

Back pain can be a sign of a serious medical problem, although this is not most frequently the underlying cause:

-Typical warning signs of a potentially life-threatening problem are bowel and bladder incontinence or progressive weakness in the legs.

-Severe back pain that occurs with other signs of severe illness (e.g. fever, unexplained weight loss)

-Back pain that occurs after a trauma, such as a car accident or a fall.

-Back pain in individuals with a history of cancer (especially cancers known to spread to the spine like breast, lung and prostate cancer) .



Underlying causes

Muscle strains (pulled muscles) are commonly identified as the cause of back pain, as are muscle imbalances. Pain from such an injury often remains as long as the muscle imbalances persist. The muscle imbalances cause a mechanical problem with the skeleton, building up pressure at points along the spine, which causes the pain.Relief should be felt with flexion (bending forward),and exacerbated with extension (bending backward).

When back pain lasts more than three months, or if there is more radicular pain (sciatica) than back pain, a more specific diagnosis can usually be made. There are several common causes of back pain: for adults under age 50, these include spinal disc herniation and degenerative disc disease or isthmic spondylolisthesis; in adults over age 50, common causes also include osteoarthritis (degenerative joint disease) and spinal stenosis, trauma, cancer, infection, fractures, and inflammatory disease.

Treatment

The management goals when treating back pain are to achieve maximal reduction in pain intensity as rapidly as possible; to restore the individual's ability to function in everyday activities; to help the patient cope with residual pain; to assess for side-effects of therapy; and to facilitate the patient's passage through the legal and socioeconomic impediments to recovery. For many, the goal is to keep the pain to a manageable level to progress with rehabilitation, which then can lead to long term pain relief. Also, for some people the goal is to use non-surgical therapies to manage the pain and avoid major surgery, while for others surgery may be the quickest way to feel better.

Not all treatments work for all conditions or for all individuals with the same condition, and many find that they need to try several treatment options to determine what works best for them.