If you have troubling symptoms such as back pain, you are not alone. Between 75 and 85% of all people will experience some form of back pain during their lifetime.

In fact, back pain is the second most frequently reported reason for visiting a doctor and, after the common cold, is the next leading reason for missed workdays for people under 45 years of age.

Symptoms

When you suffer from severe back pain, it may be either chronic or acute. Call your health professional immediately if you suffer for three or more days from any of the following symptoms:

    • Trouble to urinate
    • Trouble having a bowel movement
    • New numbness or tingling in both legs
    • Numbness or tingling in your buttocks
    • Constant back pain.

When you feel pain, it is really a reaction to signals transmitted throughout your body. These signals are sent from the pain source – such as a sore back – through the nerves in the spinal cord and up to the brain, where they are perceived as pain.

Chronic back pain

Chronic back pain is commonly described as deep, aching, dull or burning pain in one area of the back or travelling down the legs. People may experience numbness, tingling, burning or a pins-and-needles type sensation in the legs. Regular daily activities may prove difficult or impossible for people who suffer from chronic back pain. For example, they may find it difficult or unbearable to work even when the job does not require manual labour.

Treatment of chronic back pain

Chronic back pain is not relieved by standard types of medical management. It may result from a previous injury long since healed, or it may have an ongoing cause, such as nerve damage or arthritis. The only treatment is to take pain reducing medicine.

Acute back pain

Acute back pain is commonly described as a very sharp pain or a dull ache, usually felt deep in the lower part of the back, and can be more severe in one area, such as the right side, left side, centre or the lower part of the back. Acute pain can be intermittent, but is usually constant, only ranging in severity.

Sometimes acute back pain can be caused by injury or trauma to the back, but just as often has no known cause. People with acute back pain, even when it’s severe, will typically improve or completely recover within six to eight weeks.

Approximately half of all people with back pain have acute pain caused by trauma. A contusion, torn-muscle or strained joint resulting from a back injury can cause acute pain. People with any of these conditions typically exhibit pain, muscle spasms and decreased functional activities.

When acute back pain is severe and travels down both legs, it could be caused by lumbar disc disease – the most common cause of true sciatica, another form of acute pain that originates in the lower back and travels through the buttock and down the large sciatic nerve in the back of each leg.

Treatment for acute back pain

Treatment for acute back pain is short-term and usually successful. With physical therapy, follow-up treatment and prevention practices, people with this condition typically return to full functionality in a few weeks. Occasionally, they will re-injure themselves and have to return for a short course of treatment.

People with acute pain occurring more than three times in one year or who experience longer-lasting episodes of back pain that significantly interfere with functional activities (e.g. sleeping, sitting, standing, walking, bending, riding in or driving a car) tend to develop a chronic condition.

Mechanical back pain – a form of acute pain – is aggravated by movement and worsened by coughing. This type of pain is usually alleviated with rest. Mechanical back pain is typical of a herniated disc or stress fracture. For people with this condition, forward movements of the spine usually cause pain. In addition, coughing, sneezing and movement can all influence pain coming from the spine.

Diagnosis of acute back pain

Doctors have a variety of imaging processes available by which they can diagnose acute back pain, such as x-ray, cat scan (computed axial tomography scan), mri (magnetic resonance imaging), myelogram and bone scan.

Do not wait too long before consulting with your doctor when you suffer from back pain. The sooner your problem is properly diagnosed, the sooner you can be relieved from the pain.

 

Sources

Back pain. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.org
Sciatica: What You Need to Know About Sciatica – Spine-Health. Retrieved from https://www.spine-health.com

 

(Revised by M van Deventer)