Even children sometimes experience pain in the lower back. Adults know trouble firsthand. To cope with it, you need to find out: why the lower back hurts, what are the reasons. The range of causes is wide: from benign to urgent conditions requiring medical attention. Having found the root of the disease, you will understand what to do, you can help yourself on your own or by contacting a doctor.
Pain-provoking factors
Lumbar pain is a common phenomenon, but from the category of "accidentally come on". Occurs unexpectedly and always inopportunely. There are explanations for everything, consider the probable ones in order.
After sleep
A person wakes up in the morning, intends to get up . . . And he cannot. Sharp piercing back pain. The day before, I didn’t lift weights, I didn’t give a load to the muscles, where the pain comes from, it’s not clear.
Action algorithm:
- With any pain, it is important to calm down in order to adequately assess the situation.Panic will not relieve pain, but it can aggravate. It doesn’t work out, we think lying down.
- Remember yesterday.If you spent it in the office, and in the evening at the TV or computer, and this is your usual routine, the muscles experience (do not be surprised) overload. Constantly, daily. They do not have time to relax during the night. Passive rest does not help recovery of unstressed muscles. A static load is heavier than a dynamic one. The first (static) - being in the same position - overloads some muscles, leaving others without work. Dynamics (movement) involves many of the muscles.
- We continue to analyze.You load the muscles evenly, do a minimum of exercises, sit not eighteen hours a day, but woke up with lower back pain.
Likely causes:
- Uncomfortable posture during sleep;
- Excessively hard or excessively soft bed;
- Manifestation of internal diseases.
The latter circumstance is rarely associated with sleep. A person can feel unwell after waking up, because in a dream the body is relaxed, sensations are dulled. The awakened person's perception is sharpened, he moves - the suffering organ reacts.
- If you calmed down, analyzed the situation, found out the cause of the pain - act.When convinced: muscle pain, not associated with organ pathology, gently get up. It doesn’t work - roll to the edge of the bed, slide to the floor. There you will exercise to relieve muscle spasm - this is your treatment.
Lower back pain after sleep, which manifested itself for the first time, usually occurs for the reasons listed above.The deep, main reason is detraining, muscle weakness.Weakened muscles react to factors that strong ones "do not notice". Not the hardness / softness of the bed, awkward movement, and flaccid muscles give pain.
Learn more about sleep comfort. Which bed is better: a controversial question, the answers to which are diametrically opposed. Supporters of a hard bed insist on the use of a shield under the mattress, calling such a bed - orthopedic. It is believed that on a hard bed the spine straightens, which is good for posture.
Opponents of stiffness promote a soft thick mattress that allows the body to "sink" in the filler. In a semi-suspended state, the muscles and the spine occupy an arbitrary position. Advertisers of "soft sleep" argue: it's more useful, the approach is physiological. The mattress is also called orthopedic.
Lumbar pain in both women and men occurs after sleeping on any bed. Extremes are not the best solution. Our strong ancestors, peasants, slept on chests or stoves, making beds with feather beds. Middle option. The posture was excellent, pain after waking up was not typical for young and middle-aged people.
To keep the body in shape, muscles - active, regular exercises will help: exercises. Muscle training. How to help yourself "here and immediately" - we will definitely talk about this. When we consider all the likely causes and find out what it could be, why the lower back pain appeared.
You can also feel pain and burning in other cases, with diseases of the spine, injuries. Then they are non-specific morning, disturbing regardless of the "sleepy" time.
After training
Lack of load leads to weakness, muscle atrophy, overload - will reward pain for diligence. Memo to trainees: take the expression "hurry, slowly" as the motto of recovery. It is not always possible to row armfuls of strength and health.Graduality is the key to success.
Calculating the optimal load is not difficult, you need two indicators:
- HR (heart rate, the number of heartbeats per minute is measured);
- Arterial pressure.
Heart rate measurements are carried out three times:
- Before class;
- At the end of the workout;
- 5 minutes after class.
In a relatively healthy person with an initial pulse of 70–72, immediately after exercise, the heart rate may increase with an adequate load up to 120 (no more). After 5 minutes, the pulse should slow down: become below 100 beats. If the heart rate remains more frequent, the load is excessive, the muscles will respond with subsequent pain. The lower back is no exception.
Blood pressure should also return to normal in five minutes. This knowledge will tell you what to do so that pain in the lumbar muscles does not occur after training.
Due to negative emotions
A person who is prone to worries or who has fallen into a severe protracted stressful situation may experience pain of varying intensity in the lower back. They are not associated with an organic lesion of the spine. The causes of back pain in the lumbar region lie in the body's response to stress.Nervous tension causes muscle spasms.Spasmodic muscles signal a malfunction in their work - pain.
This happens not only in the lumbar region, muscle spasm can occur anywhere. Such a symptom in medicine is called psychosomatic pain.
Regular exercises aimed at strengthening and developing muscles, the formation of a "muscle corset" - the prevention of neurological pain.
Diseases of the spine
Diseases of the spine itself, dysfunction of the muscles adjacent to it, are more difficult to treat. Main assistants: willpower, perseverance, patience. Diseases have individual triggers. The method of treatment depends on its nature.
Injuries
The muscles of the spine are injured for two reasons:
- Causing harm to oneself out of ignorance: ignorance of the physiology of one's own body, improper "exploitation" of the body.
- External influence (accidents, elements, unforeseen circumstances).
Self-mutilation is not deliberately engaged in (exceptions are rare, we are talking about something else here), injuries occur due to carelessness. The man did not calculate his strength, he jerked up a heavy object, and at the same time turned awkwardly. Inflicted injury to the spine in the lumbar region. The pain is sharp, sharp, not allowing to move.
More often this happens in men: they work more with weights.Standard recommendations of doctors:
- Restriction of movements (bed rest);
- Powerful injections for pain in the back and lower back;
- Warming rubbing, ointments, compresses, heating;
- Physiotherapy procedures;
- Massage;
- Exercise therapy - after a decrease in intensity, attenuation of symptoms and during remission.
Let's take a closer look at the essence of medical prescriptions:
- Rest (restriction of movements). The muscles are spasmodic, tense, some of them are blocked by the wrong load. By depriving the patient of mobility, the doctor involuntarily fixes this blockage: immobility will not relieve the spasm. Muscles become rigid - lose flexibility, remaining tense for a long time. Muscle tissue quickly weakens in the entire body deprived of movement. These are the prerequisites for the transition of the disease into a chronic form.
- Painkillers. The injections "suppress" the symptoms, it is easier for the patient. But there is no therapeutic effect. The reason remains, the person simply feels less pain for two to three hours. Strong drugs are also strong, giving side effects. Often used to relieve pain attacks in the lumbosacral spine, a drug from the group of phenylacetic acid derivatives causes serious problems with the gastrointestinal tract. Other painkillers are also not without side effects. And they are used for a long time, courses.
- Pain is always swelling. It is visible or hidden, but soreness and swelling coexist without fail. Edema is aggravated by warming manipulations. The situation is the same: the pain is dulled, the problem remains or progresses.
- Physiotherapy for spasmodic muscles is close in effect to placebo. Best case scenario.
- Skillful massage will benefit, relax the muscles. Careful stroking is useless, use a special massage that relieves spasms. It is painful at first, but helps with a quick recovery.
- Exercise is essential immediately after an injury. Through the painCorrect movements return muscles to normal without medication. It is necessary to know the exact diagnosis, focusing on it, choose a set of exercises. Leave the diagnosis to the doctor.
Serious injuries (soft tissue tears, fractures) require hospitalization, sometimes surgery. But in rehabilitation, the main thing is the development and strengthening, restoration of injured muscles. Drug anesthesia is a temporary measure, recovery is achieved by regular exercises.
Osteochondrosis
Osteochondrosis is called dystrophic changes in the intervertebral discs:
- The cartilaginous tissue of the discs wears out if the muscles that provide the spine, adjacent to it, are poorly developed, sluggish. The spine is vulnerable without the support of a reliable muscle corset, the load on the discs is uneven.
- The discs flatten, the tissues around them lose their elasticity, spasm. The pain reflex is transmitted from the place of compression by the vertebrae of the disc: from the spasmodic muscles through the nerve to the brain.
- The edges of the vertebrae are deformed, begin to grow, additionally injuring the muscles.
- The chronic process is formed gradually, pain sensations are remote from its beginning. Progresses from discomfort and dull pain - to growing, intense. Often leads to disability.
Osteochondrosis often occurs in men who are forced to lift weights. The disease often develops in women. Women tend to be more sedentarylack of movement weakens the musculoskeletal system. Staying in one position for a long time overstrains some muscle groups without engaging others. There is pain in the spine in the lumbar and other segments.
The scheme is the same: muscle spasm, the signal from the pain receptors from the compressed discs is read by the nerve, the person feels debilitating pain. It is called "radicular syndrome" (doctors explain this by squeezing the root of the spinal cord). Hypodynamia is to blame in tandem with an irresponsible attitude to health. Muscle tissue is able to recover, for this it needs your conscious help. A pinched nerve (the second, inaccurate, name of the syndrome, since the nerve does not contain pain receptors, it transmits an impulse from edematous muscles) is not easy to cure. Willpower, patience, time are your allies.
Treatment is carried out inpatient or outpatient, as well as for injuries that do not require surgery. Doctors use painkillers blockades, prescribe anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving injections.
Full muscle work can be restored only by regular exercise. Thoughtful, competent system of exercises. Choose among a considerable variety of medical author's methods of rehabilitation - suitable for you.
Spondylosis
Untreated, progressive osteochondrosis against the background of a number of violations in the regime and the body itself can develop into spondylosis. The growth of bone tissue is an adaptive reaction of the body. The muscles of the skeleton, the spine, do not hold. He tries to hold on with his own strength, pushing out supports - bone spikes. The processes in advanced cases grow together with neighboring vertebrae. The spine is fixed, it becomes rigid, movements in the lower back are blocked.
Protrusions (growths) on the edges of the segments of the spine injure adjacent tissues constantly.
Stop the disease in time, or better, prevent it.Do not allow the transition of osteochondrosis to spondylosis: the second is more difficult to deal with.
At least half an hour - forty minutes of simple (remember gradual) exercises daily. Add regularity to gradualness: do not skip classes. The result in two to four weeks, they will show tangible. The time for a complete cure depends on the initial state: how far the disease has gone.
Proper gymnastics will definitely improve your well-being, but it will only ease the neglected stage, not heal it. The disease is severe. Operations for spondylosis are ineffective. Treatment is symptomatic. Anesthetize with ointments, injections.
The use of drugs is advisable if the pain in the lumbosacral region is unbearable. Dosage and frequency - adjust.For muscles strengthened by exercises, the need for anesthesia disappears.The pain will subside. Prevention will serve as a guarantee of their non-return: gymnastics for muscles, joints, and the whole body. At the same time, the body heals completely.
Spondylarthrosis
Pain in the lumbosacral spine is pronounced in spondylarthrosis. The pain may radiate to the buttocks and thighs.
The disease is characterized by damage to the joints located between the bodies of the spine. The cartilage of the joint is destroyed, the bone tissue is broken. Nearby muscles and ligaments are inflamed and tense. Mobility is reduced. The disease progresses, it occurs in the elderly, young people rarely suffer - with congenital anomalies of the spine.
Factors provoking spondylarthrosis:
- Elderly age:
- Floor;
- Obesity;
- Heavy physical work in the past;
- Power sports (barbell);
- Injuries;
- genetic predisposition.
In women, spondylarthrosis occurs twice as often. This fact is associated with metabolic disorders (fluctuations in the level and composition of hormones - pregnancy, menopause). Affects the statistics and the difference in the average life expectancy of different sexes. The age bar for spondylarthrosis is high, women overcome it more often.
The doctor decides how to treat, operations are not indicated. Procedures are aimed at reducing pain. The doctor will prescribe medications and feasible exercises.
Radiculitis
If you do not cure osteochondrosis, it can be complicated by sciatica. The symptoms are similar, but the disease is more severe. Nerve fibers are affected - bundles located in the muscles adjacent to the spine along the spine. Lower back pain aching, pulling, radiating to the buttock and left leg, may indicate sciatica, osteochondrosis, spinal hernia. The pain also radiates to the right leg, less often it is bilateral. With sciatica, it is difficult to find a position that relieves the intensity of pain. Pain radiates to the leg and with other health disorders of the spine, consult a doctor:high-quality diagnostics is half the success in treatment.
Radiculitis in the absence of competent treatment leads to a curvature of the spine. A frequent complication of the disease is a vertebral hernia, a protrusion of a disc compressed by the vertebrae. With a hernia of the lumbar spine, the pain is constant, this is a severe consequence of sciatica.
The onset of radiculitis, like osteochondrosis, has similar causes:
- Violation of posture;
- Muscle detraining;
- flat feet;
- The habit of incorrectly "holding the back" when walking, sitting, working and resting;
- Violation of metabolic processes.
If osteochondrosis develops, pain and burning in the back appear, deal with the problem immediately. Until she got worse.
Radiculitis is treated by the same method as osteochondrosis:
- Eliminate pain - apply ointments, gels, drugs;
- Relieve inflammation;
- Strengthen the muscular system with exercises.
tuberculous process
The infectious disease tuberculosis can cause inflammation of the muscles of any localization. If the muscles of the lumbar back are inflamed, pain is felt there. The tuberculous process in the bone tissue of the vertebrae is due to the penetration of specific tuberculosis bacteria into the vertebral tissue with the blood flow. This provokes the development of tuberculous spondylitis or osteomyelitis (bacteria infect the bone marrow of the spine).
Diseases of the lumbar tuberculous etiology are accompanied by severe pain in the advanced stage.
What to do if spinal tuberculosis is diagnosed? Follow the instructions of an experienced doctor. Delaying with treatment is dangerous: the spine is gradually deformed: the vertebrae are being destroyed, a hump is forming.
Treatment is long, antibacterial, sometimes surgical. Load limiting is recommended. Medical supervision is necessary even after achieving remission.
Tumor
Tumor processes in the lumbar spine and adjacent tissues cause pain, which increases with the growth of the neoplasm. Unpleasant sensations give tumors of any kind: benign and malignant.
If a tumor is suspected, a thorough examination and treatment is vital.Symptoms may resemble a pinched nerve, sciatica, or spinal hernia. Therefore, it is important to consult a doctor, establishing a reliable diagnosis.
Diagnosis is difficult due to the similarity of symptoms with other diseases. Night and morning pains are characteristic. A tumor involving the spinal cord is the most severe prognostically.
Benign tumors are treated surgically, they are removed. Malignant ones are more often formed by metastases from other organs, it is difficult to cure them. You should contact an oncologist, he will plan and carry out treatment. Treatment tactics: anesthesia, supportive therapy, if necessary - surgery.
Diseases of the internal organs
disease, symptoms |
Why does the lower back hurt |
Necessary actions |
|---|---|---|
A stroke is a violation of the blood circulation of the brain. Failure of most body functions - speech, motor, mental. |
Acute circulatory failure due to rupture or narrowing of a vessel can affect the spinal cord. Its functions are disturbed, hypoxia occurs. This causes pain. |
Urgent call for an ambulance paramedic. |
Atypical acute appendicitis |
Pain occurs in uncharacteristic places for this disease - epigastrium, left side or lower back. |
Call an ambulance, hospitalization and surgery are possible. |
Pyelonephritis, ICD (kidney disease) |
The inflammatory process (pyelonephritis) or the advancement of a kidney stone provoke pain in the lower back and lower abdomen of varying intensity - from aching to acute, unbearable. |
Call an ambulance. |
Intestinal obstruction. Acute life-threatening condition: retention of stool and gases, vomiting, nausea, food masses do not move through the intestines. Cold sweat, rapid pulse, drop in blood pressure. |
Pain in the form of contractions can be given to the lower back. |
Emergency hospitalization. |
Reflected pain |
Give them:
|
Examination by a doctor, examination, diagnosis, followed by the appointment of adequate treatment. |
women's issues
The causes of pain are not always pathology, if we are talking about women. Sometimes they lie in purely female physiology.
During pregnancy
Aching pains in the lumbar region in expectant mothers can be conditionally attributed to pain. This is a natural feeling of heaviness: the child grows, the stomach increases, the weight on the pelvic region is the greatest. This gives an increased load on the spine in the lumbar region. Imagine that you have a bag fastened to your belt, a bucket or a bucket and a half of water is poured into it. After walking with such a load for several hours, even a man will feel tired, his lower back will ache. Carrying a child is not an easy joy in every sense. 
In the early stages, the body begins to rebuild, it is felt.
A healthy woman does not perceive the desired "excess weight" as discomfort.Normally developed muscles, gymnastics for pregnant women neutralize the feeling of heaviness.If the pain is intense, the lower abdomen and lower back hurt, tell the doctor leading the pregnancy. The doctor will help find out what it could be. Multiple pregnancy can increase the severity - the load is greater than usual. Exacerbation of diseases that existed before pregnancy is not ruled out, a doctor's consultation will reveal this.
Period
Normal process showing: the woman is healthy. At the beginning of menstruation, the cervix opens slightly, and a pulling pain may occur. Then the internal mucous membranes lining the uterus are rejected - soreness can also be. If the pain is unbearable - see a doctor, he will tell you how to normalize menstruation. Irregular cycle may indicate hormonal disorders.
How to ease the pain
Acute muscular back pain that is not associated with organ damage can be relieved on its own, quickly and without medication.
Intense exhalation (deep, from the abdomen) activates the diaphragm, activates blood circulation, and the condition is relieved.
- Lying on your back, we put a cold object under the lower back (a heating pad with ice, a bag of frozen vegetables, etc. ), the cold also anesthetizes the edematous muscles.
- We bend the legs slightly at the knees.
- We put our hands to the ears, on the exhale we raise the head, shoulders and lower it on the inhale.
Cold relieves swelling, activating blood flow to the lower back. The pain recedes.
Get down on the floor on all fours, stretch the muscles by walking with support on the palms and knees. 5-20 minutes is the optimal duration of the exercise. The edema resolves, anesthesia occurs.
Lie on your back, feet on a bench (sofa, other comfortable support). Under the lower back - a heating pad with ice. Hands behind head. As you exhale, lift the shoulder part, trying to reach your knees with your elbows. Perform 20 times or more, if possible. Muscles are developed, swelling and spasms are removed, the pain goes away.
There is a complex of exercises that strengthen the muscles of the lower back, here are the main ones that relieve pain quickly. Sort of like an ambulance. Exercises are safe, the initial soreness is natural. If you start performing these movements immediately, as soon as a person feels discomfort, "pulled" the muscles, it is possible to relieve the pain syndrome in one or two sessions.
Painkillers of a medicinal nature bring temporary relief, but do not eliminate the problem.Apply, if unbearable, ointment, folk remedies (salt lotions, herbal baths), but the emphasis is on exercises.
Alternate reasonably between work and rest, allow yourself a good night's sleep.
Don't be flippant: work your muscles proactively. Practice movements that eliminate muscle stagnation. They are a dynamic organ. Applying reasonable sets of exercises, do not force. Have patience. The work of the muscles is controlled by the mind, their ability to regenerate (recovery) is amazing. Under load, new pathways are innervated, bypassing the damaged ones, and temporarily lost functions of the muscles affected by the disease or external influence are restored.
Anatomical changes concern only the pathways. Health, well-being, mobility - are restored.
There is no better investment than investing in your own health. It's about investing effort: exercising as part of a lifestyle. To make it a habit - every day, like brushing your teeth.
Nursing the disease is not an option. The desire to find a comfortable position for the body that relieves pain is understandable. But if "movement is life", then peace (which one so desires in case of pain) is the antipode of life. Eternal peace - with any degree of laziness - few people are interested, so you have to disturb the ailing muscles. Through the painDiseases are loved when they are pampered (bed rest, a minimum of movements, warming up and other indulgence indulgence). Butailments recede before the brave, stepping over the fear of experiencing pain and through it itself. Overcome self-pity: it is an excuse for laziness and fear. A little courage, regular light work, and you will forget about lower back pain.