Medical Keywords - Everything you need to know about health.

What Is Back Pain All About?

Back pain is one of the biggest causes of lost days at work; it is second only to the common cold. Whether it is a few days in bed due to a sports injury or a reoccurring pain due to an accident, most people will be affected by back pain at some point in their lifetime

An overview of what back pain is?

The problem with back pain is that it can be caused by many different factors, like the muscles, joints, nerves and bones located in the back. Back pain doesn't have to be constant either; it can start or stop at any time. Back pain can even move to different areas of the back, it doesn't have to center around the area the initial pain started. Muscle strains are the most common form of back pain. You don't even have to be active to have muscle strain; it is something that can happen in your sleep.

How can I stop the risk of getting back pain?

-- Trauma to your back. Trauma can be caused by a motor accident, falling from height or any accident where you happen to hit your back hard.

-- If you are over fifty years of age and happen to fall over, trip down steps or any injury where you land on your rear or back.

-- History of cancer, osteoporosis or rheumatologic disorders

-- Long periods of steroid use whether it be due to a medical condition or due to recreational use

If you happen to receive the following then you are in great risk of causing damage to your back and you should seek medical advice.

What are the symptoms of back problems?

-- Shooting pains down the front or back of the legs

-- Numbness or weakness in part of the leg

-- The inability to raise your big toe as it is linked to the fifth lumbar nerve

-- The inability to flex the foot up or down at the plantar fascia of the foot

What do I need to know?

The back includes the spinal column that protects the spinal cord. The spinal cord is part of the central nervous system.

Most back pain sufferers see their symptoms improve within eight weeks, even if they don't have any treatment.

If someone has suffered with back pain for less than one month then this is known as acute back pain.

If back pain persists for longer than a month then its medical term is called chronic back pain.

Eight out of ten sufferers who seek medical advice are diagnosed with a non-specific cause of pain, even after thorough medical examinations because the varying causes of back pain are hard to detect.

Summary

Back pain can be debilitating, painful and uncomfortable, due to this it is important to protect your back from injury. It is imperative that you seek medical advice should you have any hard impact to your back, should an impact happen and you do not seek medical advice then any small damage that has occurred can progressively get worse and cause major problems later on.