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How can you minimize the discomfort?





How can you deal with the back pain related to pregnancy?


About Lower Back Pain


The back is made up of several different bones, called vertebrae, which are stacked upon each other to form a strong column that supports the upper portion of the body. Bones near neck are called cervical vertebrae, those adjacent to chest are called thoracic vertebrae, those around the lower back are called lumbar vertebrae, and those at the back of pelvic are called sacrum and coccyx.

Most of the weight of the upper body is rests on the lumbar vertebrae, and it is here that most of the lower back pains are localized.

A number of medical and other factors contribute to the occurrence of lower back pain. These include injury to this portion of the spine, which could be either due to excessive strains, compressions, or factors related to the aging process, when bones tend to become weak and brittle. Disease like osteoarthritis (inflammation of the bone) and osteoporosis (reduction in bone mass) can cause severe lower back pains. Certain specific viral infections can also cause lower back pains. Recently, much research has been focused on a condition called cauda equine syndrome, in which vertebrae intrude into the spinal canal and compress highly sensitive spinal nerves and fibers in the lumbar and sacral region. Irritated nerves cause extreme pain in these regions and sometimes irreversible damage to the nerves.

On a physical level, a number of factors can be responsible for lower back pain. Chiefly, these include excessive body weight (which induces strain to the lower back), improper sitting or standing posture, and improper sleeping posture.

Lower back pain can be both acute and chronic. While the acute type lasts for a few days to a few weeks, chronic persists for three months or more. As far as the significance of lower back is concerned, both acute and chronic pains need timely investigation and treatment.

Back Pain – An Introduction


Since the spine is an amazing combination of bones, ligaments, tendons, large muscles, and highly sensitive nerves, any abnormality or dysfunction in any of these structures can trigger back pains of low or high intensity. For example, pain could occur on account of any irritability perceived by the large or small nerves that pass through or along with the spine. If these nerves are strained, again back pain can occur. The spaces created between the discs of the spinal column, which have to be otherwise suitably aligned, can be a very troublesome cause of back pain.

Depending on the severity of back pain, it can be classified into three categories. Back pains lasting not more than three months are termed as acute. When back pain occurs repeatedly, it is known as recurrent back pain. And back pain lasting more than three months and that doesn’t improve within three to four weeks of medication, is considered as chronic back pain. More than 50 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. Such back pains are often traced to more serious underlying bone or joint problems or other pathophysiologies; these need a specialist’s intervention to treat.


Any such suspicion is ruled out by conducting an array of medical laboratory and imaging tests, including a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) scan, bone scan, and X-ray.

Testing For Back Pain


Medical Evaluation and Diagnostic Testing procedures should be performed prior to beginning any treatment in order to determine the treatment process that will be most effective. The following describes some of the evaluation testing procedures that can be performed to help confirm the cause of back pain.

The causes of back pain can be very complex, and there are many structures in the lower back that can cause pain. The following are used to test for the cause pain:




Used primarily when problems are suspected in the bones or when a patient canÕt obtain an MRI


The most common test to evaluate the lumbar spine. Evaluates: *Vertebral bones * Discs * Joints * Nerves * Soft tissues


where dye is injected into the spinal column and then the area is flexed and x-rayed.


Discography is a diagnostic procedure used to determine the level of the painful disc.


The EMG/Nerve Conduction Study is a useful test to study the nerves in the arms and legs.


Bone density testing is fast, painless, and noninvasive. During a test, patients lie fully clothed on a padded treatment table while the machine scans one or more areas of bone. The entire test normally takes only minutes.


A Bone scan in Nuclear Medicine is a procedure which involves two steps:

The patient is asked to arrive 3 hours before their actual scan to receive an injection of a small amount of radioactive tracer that is “tagged” to a calcium like material. Usually the tracer is injected in a vein in the arm of the patient. In some instances, other sites of injection are used especially for those patients that had difficult veins to find. The “radiopharmaceutical” has no side effects and because of this, the patient can be released from the department for 3 hours to give the calcium time to circulate and be taken up by the bone. There are no dietary restrictions so the patient may eat before and after the injection. After the three hours has elapsed, the patient returns to the Nuclear Medicine department for their scan. The patient is placed on a table a head to toe scan is performed by a “gamma camera”.