How to Treat Lower Back Pain

Are you feeling feeble fighting your low back pain?

Maybe looks unbelievable, but statistics suggests that nearly 632 million people suffer from lower back pain at any given point in time. Figures also show that 80% of the U.S. citizens have experienced this physical disorder during their lifetime. Among the various types of back pains, lower back pain has the leading role in weighing down working adults. Reportedly, nothing other than this problem has caused more physical disabilities throughout the world. Nevertheless, there are definite methods of pain management to treat your lower back pain forever.

What is lower back pain?

Lower back pain is the most common disorder of your back. It may involve muscles and/or bones in the lumbar region and is divided into three categories: acute, sub-chronic and chronic, according to the duration of the problem. In acute cases, you may have muscle stiffness and spasms along with episodic pains at your lower back. Moreover, you may feel pain after some body movements like bending. In chronic cases, you may suffer from sleep problems and psychological complications. Another group of this disorder is nerve-root pressure due to tumors, deformity of the spine and degenerative changes of joints. In sciatica, the pain radiates down your legs because of the pressure exerted on sciatica nerve.

Causes of lower back pain

The leading causes (around 90%) are skeletal strains or sprains which result in short term pain. Some of these causes are the lack of movement for a long time, lifting heavy loads, accidents, bending and twisting. Fatness, smoking, stress and poor body position may also intensify the problem. Flawed spinal discs, osteoarthritis, squashed back nerves, fractured vertebrae, infection and tumor of the spine could be other causes of lower back pain. Problems of the female reproductive systems and pregnancy could contribute to lower back pain. If the pain persists or other physical disorders (e.g. weight loss, fever) appear, then more investigation is needed to find the main problem.

Treatment of lower back pain

Treatment of lower back pain depends on the origin of the problem.

• Heat therapy: Dilation of blood vessels lead to oxygenation and detoxification of the location and relief of the pain
• Cold compression therapy: Helpful in inflammatory cases
• Physical management: Supervised exercises
• Medication: In acute pain cases, simple medication (e.g. acetaminophen; sometimes muscle relaxants) along with calculated body movements and reassurance will suffice. In  more severe pain cases, using opioids is the option but should be taken cautiously. Antidepressants are used in pains associated with symptoms of depression.
• Psychological support: Counseling
• Massage therapy: For chronic cases
• Cortisone shots
• Epidural steroid injection
• Nerve blocks
• Alternative medicine
• Electrotherapy: Stimulation of spinal Peripheral nerve, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation
• Neuroreflexotherapy: in chronic non-specific low back pain
• Surgery: Indicated rarely (under 10%) in disc related problems, spinal stenosis, abnormal curvature of the spine   and compression fracture.

Stop wondering about how to treat back pain!

Nowadays, you can enjoy the benefit of receiving expert help from professionally trained medical staff in pain care clinics, in order to leave your back pain behind. Dr. Kevin Li, MD, is a specialist in interventional pain management in Los Angeles. With the cutting-edge interventional therapies presented in his pain clinic in Los Angeles, he is confident of developing a comprehensive treatment plan tailored to your lower back pain. So you don’t need to worry about how to treat back pain. Just contact his pain management center in Los Angeles today at (626) 538-8950 to make an appointment. And remember, nothing could deprive you of a pain-free active lifestyle!