A common occurrence among people of different ages and professional affiliations is when the back hurts in the lower back. Hypotension in contrast to excessive loads in the gym, drafts, poor posture - all this causes unpleasant and painful sensations in the lumbar region.
When is a pain reliever enough to solve the problem and at what point is urgent medical attention needed. It is necessary to remember the following: if the lower back constantly hurts, this is a serious reason to consult a specialist.
Because the lower back hurts
The causes of pain in the lumbar region can be similar in men and women or have their own specificities associated with both anatomical features and professional activities and lifestyle.
- A stiff back in the morning after sleep can be the result of a poor quality bed and indicate spinal problems.
- If the lower back hurts a lot, it is possible to violate the nerve endings, develop a herniated disc, osteochondrosis.
- When you stand for a long time, a static load acts on the lower back. The lumbar muscles enter a state of hypertonus and can interrupt the innervation of the nerve endings.
- When you sit down, your lower back hurts due to poor posture. Many sitting at the table occupy an uncomfortable position of the body, which also leads to an overload of the muscle corset and violation of the nerve endings.
- When the lower back hurts and pulls the legs, the symptoms may indicate a violation of the nerve endings in the pelvic area. Often the infringement occurs in the coccyx region, when it hurts below the waist, then the pain is reflected in the lower limbs.
- If the back hurts above the waist, then most likely the issue is in the violation of the nerve fibers in the lumbar region or the problem arises from the internal organs.
- The situation when the lower back hurts from the side, the sensation is like pulling and the temperature rises, so here we are talking about progressive inflammation of the internal organs.
To identify the cause of pain in the lumbar region, you should undergo a thorough medical examination and do tests that will prove whether there are inflammatory processes, violation of the nerve endings or whether there is a hernia. Only after the diagnosis has been clarified can measures be taken to eliminate the disease.
Back pain in women
The weaker sex is particularly prone to lower back pain. The reasons why modern women have back pain in the lower back can be associated with both professional activities and the presence of diseases.
Pain after running can develop due to improperly selected shoes without a high-quality shock absorber, when the heel hits the ground without softening it is transmitted to the lumbar region. The lower back hurts after walking while wearing very high heels, which not only upsets the balance, but also causes the woman to strongly arch the spine, placing additional stress on the lower back.
Pain while walking may not be the result of lower back disease, but problems with the hip joints, which are prone to excessive friction during exercise. Night anxiety can cause an uncomfortable mattress for a girl in bed.
If pain is felt on the right or left, closer to the periphery, this indicates a greater likelihood of disease of the internal organs. A worrying tailbone can be a symptom of injury or strangulation.
Whatever the cause, only a qualified specialist will prescribe adequate treatment.
Back pain before your period
The reasons why women and girls may have lower back pain or lower abdomen pulling before menstruation begins have a very broad etiology. This can be both a consequence of changes in the hormonal background, and the symptoms of a whole range of diseases.
- neoplasms;
- Infections and consequence of hypothermia;
- Incorrect installation of the intrauterine device;
- Abnormalities in the position of the uterus or ectopic pregnancy;
- Cysts, fibroids, endometriosis.
Given the vastness of the list, a woman with disturbing symptoms should see a doctor and establish the cause of the regular malaise.
Why does the lower back hurt during menstruation?
Pain in the lumbar region during menstruation is often considered the norm, because there is a severe hormonal increase, a large amount of blood flows to the pelvic organs and, increasing, they can put pressure on the nerve endings. The pain disappears as soon as the main outflow occurs.
However, some women still feel unwell after their period. If such a manifestation is atypical, then it is worth considering it as a signal of a possible pathology.
Can the lower back hurt in the absence of visible causes in the form of infections, diseases and the development of pathological processes? Perhaps if the anatomical structure of the uterus is such that it deviates backwards. In this position, swelling during menstruation will put pressure on adjacent organs and nerve endings, causing pain in the lumbar region. A prolapse of the uterus caused by regular weight lifting can also cause a similar symptom.
If a woman has pain in her stomach and lower back, she is strongly advised to visit a gynecologist to identify the cause of such ailment. Symptoms can indicate the development of polycystic diseases, inflammation of the appendages, endometriosis, infectious and sexually transmitted diseases. The cause may be a poorly installed intrauterine device or the opposite - the development of an ectopic pregnancy.
Back pain during pregnancy
A common ailment of women during pregnancy is an indication of back pain. There can be several reasons why pregnant women experience lower back pain, as the body is undergoing major restructuring, weight gain and imbalance due to an enlarged belly.
In the early stages of pregnancy, discomfort can begin from the moment the fertilized egg strengthens on the walls of the uterus. After childbirth, pregnant women are prone to diseases of the urogenital area - cystitis and pyelonephritis, which can also be reflected in pain in this area.
Because a pregnant woman can start experiencing great discomfort in the second trimester. This is due to the active growth of the fetus and the increase in the volume of the abdomen of the expectant mother - the internal organs begin to squeeze, including the nerve endings that pass into the pelvic area. A woman may experience radiating pain in the buttock region or in the legs.
A woman may feel how her lower abdomen is being pulled, in the latter stages, when the baby's head begins to drop, the pain runs down her lower back to the sacrum. At 21-40 weeks of pregnancy, a woman may experience lower back pain due to an increased level of relaxation. This provokes the development of symphysiopathy, an inflammatory process in the pubic joint.
The lower back hurts and gives way to the leg
A frequent occurrence in people after 35 years of age are pain disorders in the lumbar region with a return to the leg or gluteus muscle. What can be associated with such a pathology? For some people, the pain radiates to the right leg, for others, the pain radiates to the left leg, even if the lower back feels the same way. The point here could be that several nerve roots are pinched, because there are exits on both the right and left sides of the vertebra.
Pain will affect the buttock and leg with osteochondrosis, scoliosis, herniated disc, and a whole list of other diseases associated with damage to spinal cord neurons.
When pinched, the lower back hurts a lot. An awkward movement can lead to such a serious consequence that the pain syndrome will have to be removed with an injection. Since inflammation develops immediately due to an injury, additional pressure is exerted on the nerve ending.
The problem will be solved after a course of steroidal anti-inflammatory and decongestant drugs, which will allow the patient to relax and relieve muscle tension in the affected area.
Also common causes of such irradiation can be neuralgia and more serious pathologies associated with neoplasms in the lumbar region, which will exert pressure or cause inflammation.
Why the lower back hurts in men
Treatment of pain in the lumbar region in men is very often associated with neglected cases, because the representative of the stronger sex prefers to endure "as long as the spear in the back does not interfere with sleep. "It is then that the pain becomes the cause of the chronic lack of sleep, the man decides to go to the doctor.
Back pain in the case of a representative of the stronger sex can be associated with:
- With high physical activity - professional, sports;
- Spinal problems due to physical inactivity, prolonged driving.
- Internal organ problems - kidney or prostate.
Treatment of the lower back at home for acute painful attacks will be ineffective, especially if folk remedies are used. Since men tend to trigger the disease, sometimes the pain has to be stopped with the help of injections of powerful drugs - pain relievers and anti-inflammatory drugs.
Back pain after sleep
Have you ever had back pain in the morning? Such a reaction of the body is quite understandable if the day before you overdo it in training or, after starting a general cleansing, vigorously move the furniture. If it is an injury, you should definitely visit a doctor to make sure there are no serious consequences.
What if there were no injuries and no sports abuse, but after sleep you feel pain in the lower back. One of the causes of morning pain is developing osteochondrosis. As the disease develops, the bones and parts of the spine become much more sensitive to the static position of the body during the night. What will pass without consequences in a healthy person, for a patient with osteochondrosis, will cause a part of acute painful sensations after awakening.
Also, pain can be caused by an excessively curved spine in the supine position. This is due to the habit of sleeping, lying on the back, stretching the legs. The lumbar region receives an excessive load and in the morning you can have very overloaded muscles.
If the morning pain is chronic, you should be seen by a doctor, as this state of affairs can be a signal from the body about ailments or a reaction to stress, illness or excess weight. It is very important to find out why.
How to tell if your kidneys or lower back hurt
Pain in the lower back can be caused by both spine and internal organ problems.
How to understand where the signal comes from? To determine what hurts - the kidneys or lower back - it is necessary to observe the localization. The spine, pinched nerve endings, and spasmodic muscles feel painfully closer to the middle of the back, to the axis of the spine. And if the kidneys hurt, it gives way to the lower back closer to the periphery, to the side.
At the same time, pain in the spine can vary: it can be stronger in the morning, after waking up, and in the late afternoon at the end of the day. The pain of the internal organs is more permanent and can be accompanied by signs of inflammation: fever, vomiting.
In a simple way, we determine: the lower back or the kidneys. If the pain is weaker with physical inactivity and disappears after rubbing with an ointment, then this is the back. The pain of the internal organs will not give a debilitating reaction to the local application of warming ointments and will not allow you to relax, regardless of the position you take.
The child has back pain
Low back pain in children is often caused by poor posture or a poor quality workplace. The appearance of pain does not have a clear relationship with age - it can hurt both a preschooler and a teenager. Why the lower back hurts in childhood, a vertebrologist can tell after a detailed examination.
- Muscle strain due to a heavy backpack or constant sitting at a table or computer - up to 80% of cases.
- The development of scoliosis requires rapid intervention, as a child's spine can deform very quickly.
- Wounds or bruises.
- Diseases of the internal organs - 20% of applications.
If a child has a fever and back pain, this can be a symptom of an extremely unpleasant disease of osteomyelitis. The pathological process of a purulent-necrotic nature affects the bone marrow and bones.
Which doctor to contact
When the lower back hurts and the need to visit a doctor is growing, the patient wonders which doctor can help. Everything here will depend on the reasons that caused the pain.
To begin with, it is recommended that you visit a local therapist or general practitioner. To establish the source of the problem, you will need an examination, an x-ray of the spine, an ultrasound of the pelvis, general blood and urine tests.
After the examination, the therapist advises which specialist to contact to continue the treatment aimed at the cause. As such a specialist he can be recommended:
- Neurologist - to examine the spine, back muscles and nerves.
- Urologist - if there are problems in the urogenital area.
- A gynecologist is a female specialist who will help identify the cause of pain in the female reproductive system.
Timely contact with a specialist will help eliminate the cause of back pain at the initial stage. Advanced cases can lead to serious consequences, which can involve the inclusion of surgery.
Exercises for back pain
When eliminating an acute pain attack, the doctor after drug therapy in most cases prescribes physical therapy, that is, exercise. Effective exercises help relieve tension from the muscle corset, strengthen it, eliminate spasms inside the fibers, which can cause pain.
The rehabilitation system involves performing all exercises slowly, without sharp turns and lunges. If you don't follow this rule, you can suffer further injuries.
Stretching exercises are recommended to relieve pain. For muscle fibers, such a load allows you to eliminate hypertonicity, the clamps are removed. An exercise that focuses on a problem muscle group or the spine. Improves blood circulation in the problem area, improves microcirculation in muscle and cartilage cells, contributing to increased nutrition and the removal of decay products.
The necessary set of exercises is selected by the attending physician or a physiotherapist who will conduct physical therapy classes. After the patient's task is to independently maintain and consolidate the result by doing exercises at home.
How to smear the lower back with pain
When the lower back starts to ache, the first thought that arises is how to smear how to treat. You can't grab the first creams and ointments that come across the word "pain reliever". It is important to understand what caused the pain and only then to apply the appropriate medication.
- If pain is associated with osteochondrosis, pinched nerve endings, inflammation of the nerve roots, both NSAIDs and corticosteroids may be needed.
- In case of hypothermia, warming ointments with an irritating effect are suitable to activate blood microcirculation in the muscles.
- There are also homeopathic preparations and balms.
It should be remembered that ointments do not help if the cause of pain lies in the internal organs. If the pain is caused by diseases of the kidneys, organs of the female or male genitourinary system, anesthetic ointments can lubricate the clinical picture, and warming ones can provoke an intense development of inflammation.
That is why it is also necessary to use folk remedies only after consulting a doctor, so as not to aggravate your condition with unjustified treatment.