Safe Back Pain Management

Back pain, discomfort or sometimes debilitating suffering associated with an injury or some other affliction of the back, the posterior (rear) portion of the body that extends from the shoulders to the hips.

Types:

• Acute: or short-term back pain lasts a few days to a few weeks. Most low back pain is acute. It tends to resolve on its own within a few days with self-care and there is no residual loss of function. In some cases a few months are required for the symptoms to disappear.
• Chronic back pain: is defined as pain that continues for 12 weeks or longer, even after an initial injury or underlying cause of acute low back pain has been treated. About 20 percent of people affected by acute low back pain develop chronic low back pain with persistent symptoms at one year. Even if pain persists, it does not always mean there is a medically serious underlying cause or one that can be easily identified and treated. In some cases, treatment successfully relieves chronic low back pain, but in other cases pain continues despite medical and surgical treatment.

Causes:

• Congenital
  • Skeletal irregularities 
  • Spina bifida 

• Injuries
  • Sprains & strains 
  • Traumatic Injury 


• Degenerative problems
  • Intervertebral disc degeneration
  • Spondylosis
  • Arthritis or other inflammatory disease


• Nerve and spinal cord problems
  • Spinal nerve compression, inflammation and/or injury
  • Sciatica  
  • Spinal stenosis 
  • Spondylolisthesis,  
  • Herniated or ruptured discs  
  • Infections 
  • Cauda equina syndrome
  • Osteoporosis 


• Non-spine sources
  • Kidney stones 
  • Endometriosis 
  • Fibromyalgia 
  • Tumors 
  • Pregnancy 

Symptoms:

• Pain that is dull or achy, contained to the low back
• Stinging, burning pain that moves from the low back to the backs of the thighs, sometimes into the lower legs or feet; can include numbness or tingling (sciatica)
• Muscle spasms and tightness in the low back, pelvis, and hips
• Pain that worsens after prolonged sitting or standing
• Difficulty standing up straight, walking, or going from standing to sitting

Conventional approach of Low Back Pain:

• Medication
• Physical therapy
• Cortisone injections: 
• Traction
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

Wrong postures every day, and long strain on the back due to travel or sedentary lifestyle, over weight and stress, are the most common reasons for causing back pain often due to strain of the muscles, or other soft structures (e.g., ligaments and tendons) connected to the back bones (vertebrae). The posture problem and stress might be due to luxurious couches or the uncomfortable chairs in office or just a simple foot-slip in bathroom. Any of these can cause back pain – mild to severe.

Generally back pains start very mildly and gradually aggravates with time, causing various types of back pain which could be diagnosed as spondylosis, back injury, slip disc, sciatica, IVDP, Disc compression, osteoporosis of spine, etc.

Ayurveda believes any inflammation in the body, is also a contribution of bad digestion or poor gut health, such as accumulation of excess of intestinal gases (vata) in your body. Ayurveda approach offers various special treatments like snehana (oleation), swedana (medicated herbal steam bath with medicated herbal milk), kashaya vasti (medicated enema wit decoction), matra vasti (medicated oil enema), kati vasti, madhu tailika vasti, kati pichu etc. with some specially formulated internal herbal infusion, poly herbal compounds to address this chronic problem.

All these helps in supporting the muscles around the joint, strengthening the muscles, lubricating the joints and cartilage, provde nutrition to joint components, heal and reduce the pain along with correction in the gut health.