Sunday, July 17, 2016

Causes Of Chronic Back Pain

By Kimberly Rogers


Research indicates that back pain is a common problem with more than 80n percent of all adults experiencing it at some point. It is the main cause why people miss work in Greenbelt. Both women and men have the same predisposition to this medical condition. Severity ranges from sharp pains capable of rendering an adult incapacitated within a short while to dull but persistent discomfort. The abbreviation CBP for chronic back pain will be assumed in this article.

CBP is the pain that one feels for a period of 12 weeks or more even after treatment of underlying injury or cause. More than twenty percent of all people suffering from acute pain in their backs end up developing CBP with persistent symptoms. In most cases, surgical and medical treatment relieves the symptoms and alleviates the discomfort, but in other cases, the problem may persist.

Typically, CBP takes place within the lumbar region in the 5 vertebrae of the lower region of the back. Most of the weight from the upper body is supported by this region. As such, movement results into friction, pressure, and shock to be exerted on vertebrae discs. The shock, pressure, and friction are minimized by the presence of intervertebral discs. Otherwise these forces would cause unacceptable amount of degeneration. The position of the vertebrae is maintained by ligaments. Transmission of signals from the back to the brain occurs through the thirty-one pairs of nerves connecting the two organs.

A huge number of the causes of this problem is mechanical in nature. In most cases, especially in old people, the pains are caused by the normal wear and tear occurring in the spine with age. Other causes include sprains and strains, intervertebral degeneration, herniated or ruptured discs, radiculopathy, sciatica, traumatic injury, and skeletal irregularities.

This medical condition is mostly caused by sprains and strains in most people. Sprains are a result of tearing or overstretching of ligaments in the vertebrae. On the contrary, strains result from torn tendons or muscles. Causes of strains and sprains vary, but they include lifting heavy objects, overstretching, or lifting/twisting something improperly. The same events may also trigger spasms, which cause discomfort.

A condition called radiculopathy results from injury, inflammation, and/or compression of spinal nerve roots. As a result of the pressure exerted, numbness, tingling sensation, or pains are caused and radiated to all other body parts the nerve serves. This pressure comes from ruptured discs or spinal stenosis.

Sports, car accidents, and falls may injure muscles, ligaments, and tendons of the back, causing CBP. Intervertebral discs are usually herniated or ruptured as a result of excessive compression caused by traumatic injury. Nerve roots are in turn pressured by herniated discs, resulting into pain. Irregularities in the skeleton include congenital anomalies such as scoliosis and lordosis. Scoliosis only manifests in middle aged people. It is caused by presence of a curvature in the spinal cord.

CBP may also be caused by serious underlying medical conditions although this occurs rarely. Several medical conditions may cause the problem. Major ones are infections, tumors, cauda equine syndrome, abdominal aortic aneurysms, and kidney stones. Osteoporosis, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, and inflammatory diseases of the joints predispose people to CBP.




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