Back Pain OverviewBack pain is one of the most pervasive and debilitating symptoms that a person can experience. This is due to the complexity and the nature of the functions that the spine performs. First of all the entire body is built around the column that is the spine. Your entire body essentially is anchored to your spine. This puts the pressure, weight and G-forces of the entire body directly on the spine. This can cause wear and tear very easily with 75-80 years of constant work imparted on the spine. The other thing about the spine is that it has a high density of joints. A joint is where two bones meet and "join." Because there is a lot of rubbing an fracture, these areas are subject to a lot of pain. Each vertebrae in the spine has 4 joints. This is a significant number when compared to the arm which only has 2 joints. The spinal column has 33 parts rubbing together, which all can be subject to pain at any given point in time. Sometimes I wonder how we are not in pain all of the time with this many joints in articulation working together seamlessly for the great majority of our lives. The last thing that can make the spine a very tense and tender area is the fact that the entire spinal cord with all of the body's pain sensing nerves run throughout the entirety of the spine. Many of the nerves run between vertebrae and around the spinal column. Essentially your spine is virtually encased in an a mine field full of pain sensors. But oddly enough pain may be the symptoms of bad things to come, but they are not the bad things nonetheless. The issue arises when you are not able to use your legs, develop complete numbness, and lose bowel or bladder function and control as a result of spinal cord disease processes. Although pain may be debilitating, the loss of spinal cord function can be a life threatening emergency.
|
Back Pain: CausesArthritis: Remember when we talked about the 33 articulating parts of the spine that work and move seamlessly. If one of these parts are damaged and rub the wrong way then you can have very painful sensations when ever you use that specific faulty joint. This is because your spinal column houses the spinal cord. Whenever you have bone running on bone your spinal column will sense this and let you know via the excruciating pain you feel when you do certain activities. The best thing is to over the counter pain medications and do physical therapy in order to strengthen you back's supporting muscles.
Disk Herniation: This is usually found in the young and the old when they do strenuous activities such as picking up heavy objects. They will feel a sudden pop associated with severe pain and sometimes neurological symptoms. This is often due to disk herniation. It is the acute, quick onset of pain that follows the strenuous activity that identifies the disk herniation. The separate 33 vertebrae that sit on top of each other have shock absorbers between then in order to counter the weight your entire body. This preserves your vertebrae so that you do not feel pain every time you move. Seek a doctors assistance if you have this pain. They can do further testing and imaging to make sure that your spinal cord is intact an not suffocating when your disk pops and re-locates into the spinal canal with your spinal cord. Spinal Stenosis: This is when you have either vertebral disk, bony and joint products in your spinal canal which can causes permanent paralysis, numbness, and loss of normal spinal cord function. If you have symptoms such as one sided numbness, weakness, tingling, as well as loss of bowel or bladder function then see your doctor immediately. If you do not stop these symptoms immediately they can be life threatening and non-reversible if not addressed ASAP. If you have more questions about back pain then contact us now. |