Friday, February 20, 2009

Lower Back Pain - Symptoms and Treatment

Lower back pain is characterised by any sort of discomfort in the area between the ribcage and where the hips start. The pain can be just a dull feeling or a sharp pain concentrated in a small area. Lower back pain is characterised by pain in the muscle due to stress or general weakness of the muscle, pulled ligaments or tendons in the back and pain in the bones due to stress. In severe conditions lower back pain maybe caused to due to hernia, dislocation, fractures due to osteoperosis etc.

General causes of lower back pain are sedentary lifestyle especially where sitting in a bad posture for long duration leads to back problems and spondylitis, lifting heavy weights without proper posture like arching your back and accidental causes which lead to muscle pulls or vertebrae damage.

Treatment for lower back pain will vary depending upon the type of injury. Usually lower back problems are associated with lack of regular exercise combined with bad sitting postures. Whatever maybe the case the doctor may advise you to go for XRays or CT Scans. Part of the treatment will focus on keeping your posture correct so that the back is not stressed. Along with such precautions the doctor will prescribe anti inflamatory and painkiller drugs.

Depending upon how fast the recovery process is, the next steps would involve exercising your back muscles to make them stronger. This goes a long way in keeping your posture straight and helps in avoiding future injuries. Consulting a physiotherapist would be good idea. Physiotherapy will help you tone your entire body. The back muscles play a major role in transfering load from the upper body to the lower body and vice-versa. Therefore, maintaing a strong back will ensure that your entire load bearing capacity is increased.

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