How To Diagnose Lower Back Pain
Lower Back Pain is a common affliction, with millions each year visiting physicians for relief. Not only will they seek relief, they will want a diagnosis.
It is not always easy to diagnose lower Back pain. Many body structures can cause it. There are muscles, ligaments, and tendons; spinal column bones; joints, discs and nerves. In addition to these structures, there may be underlying medical conditions your physician needs to evaluate.
Whether you initially diagnose lower back pain yourself, or leave that to your physician, the diagnosis will need to consider both the location and symptoms of your pain.
Step 1 – Location
The first step is to decide the location. “Where does it hurt?”
1. Axial lower back pain: This lower back pain hurts only in the low back. Pain does not travel into any other area.
2. Radicular lower back pain: This lower back pain hurts in the low back, and also radiates down the backs of the thighs into one or both legs.
3. Lower back pain with referred pain: Diagnose lower back pain with referred pain if it hurts in the low back area, and tends to radiate into the groin, buttocks, and upper thighs. The pain will rarely radiate below the knee, but may seem to move around.
Step 2 – Symptoms
Once you diagnose lower back pain as to location, you will consider symptoms. “How does it feel?”
1. Worsens with certain activities: If you play football, for example, the pain is worse.
2. Worsens in certain positions: Perhaps it gets worse if you stand for too long. Or it is more painful after you sit in a car.
3. Feels better after rest: Resting from the activity or position usually reduces the lower back pain.
4. Deep and steady: Not a sharp muscle catch, this pain is constant and deep within the affected areas.
5. Severe: The pain is excruciating, possibly more so in the calf than the lower back.
6. Numbness and tingling: There may be “pins and needles” within the area.
7. Fleeting pain: Pain may seem to come and go, leaving you unsure at times just how it feels.
8. Achy and dull: Like the flu, this pain is sore and dull, though sometimes intensifying.
9. Migratory: It hurts in one spot, then another.
Diagnosis
AXIAL: If location is best described by number 1 above, and symptoms are a combination of 1, 2, and 3, you can probably diagnose lower back pain as being axial – the most common type. This is also called “mechanical” lower back pain. A variety of back structures can cause axial lower back pain, and it is difficult to identify which is the cause. Axial pain gets better on its own, and about 90% of patients recover within six weeks.
RADICULAR: If location is best described by number 2 above, and symptoms are a combination of 4, 5, and 6, you can probably diagnose lower back pain as being radicular – commonly called sciatica. This lower back pain is caused by compression of a lower spinal nerve, usually the sciatica nerve that runs from the spinal column, down the back of the thighs to the feet. Doctors usually recommend conservative treatment such as physical therapy exercises, medications, and possibly spinal injections, for six to eight weeks.
REFERRED: If location is best described by number 3 above, and symptoms are a combination of 7, 8, and 9, you can probably diagnose your pain as being lower back pain with referred pain – the least common type. This lower back pain is treated the same as axial back pain and frequently goes away as the problem resolves on its own.
How do you diagnose lower back pain?
Diagnose lower back pain with care. You need an accurate diagnosis, which your physician can best make, to be sure no underlying causes need attention. It is not enough to know you have sciatica. You need to know the underlying cause of the sciatica to determine treatment options.
If you do diagnose lower back pain, check the diagnosis with your physician.
Anna Hart
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/how-to-diagnose-lower-back-pain-115645.html
How to diagnose Lower back pain.?For about the past 6 weeks I have had a random sharp pain in my very lower back. It's not too bad, pretty mild for the most part. It comes in waves and only when I'm sitting down and hunched over and stretching my lower back. When I sit up straight it goes away. I'm not sure if I got it from doing dead lifts at the gym or from a new matress. They all came around the same time. I've never had a weight lifting injury before I didnt notice it immeadiately after so I think its the matress but I don't know. Always been an athelete and never had any serious injuries. Any inputs on what it might be or what to do to make it go away?
geeze just go to a doctor, none of us here can diagnose you over the net and you dont want to leave an injury like that unattended coz it can, and most likey will, make it worseReferences :
This happens to me too, all the time! Your not the only one, I went to the hospital got x-rays, and it came out as I have scoliosis, and now I have to go to physical therapy. Are you one who cant stand up straight? Because if you are you may want to check for a slight curve in your back. Everytime I have this pain I try to sit straight, and it goes away, it happens around the same time everyday which is pretty weird, and Im only 13. Hopefully your problem is found at a younger age so it is easier to fix!
Hope this helps, and good luck! But for now, until your sure you want to get this checked out, try walking, sitting up straight ALL the time, its pretty hard for me, but I try.References :
If it is a lifting injury, I believe it would show up within 24 hours of lifting. If you are still doing dead lifts, does it follow that routine regularly? In this case, you may need help to diagnose the problem.
The new mattress could certainly be the culprit. Ours wasn't firm enough and my hubby's back hurt consistently until we went a bought a board, oops, I mean new bed that was Super firm.
One more thought to consider is your chair at work. If you even sit in a chair at work. Make sure it has proper lower back support (your lower back should be pushed inward).
Physical therapists can give you little exercises to do to help with the back posture muscles. I personally like a chiropractor for this. I takes a few sessions to get it fixed but then you can go in on an as needed basis. But please note that I have really bad chronic back pain from spinal disc problems.
Ironically, I find that when I am in real pain that ice works better than heat. I tried heat repeatedly before I went to ice and I am serious, it works! The ice reduces swelling that helps with the pain on the area. Use ice for 20 minutes then take 20 minutes off, then another 20 minutes of ice. It is also wise to lay flat on the floor with the ice under your back and your legs raised during this process. This is the only relief that I find.
Hope some of this info helps. It stinks to be in a pain and I hope that you can be free of it! God's best to you.References :
Diagnosing is the easy part; you know it hurts!
Thats the thing with back pains you can be active all day and there is no problem. You go to sleep or just slow down to rest and it starts to ache. By the next day it hurts even more.
This sounds like mussel spasums. Good posture helps as it keeps not only the spine straight but alevate the need for mussels to work extra hard to hold your upper body up and in place. At night if it hurt when you are sleeping try a pillow under your knees this should help keep your back straighter while lying on your back. Light excersising such as stretching might help getting the back to loosen up again. ( Consult a doctor first just incase.)
New matress do not usually sage unless they are of lesser quality; However if this the case plywood under it or good box springs help. Also check on return policy if you are cosidering an up grade. If that is not possiable geust bed or cottage.
No matter how resilliant our bodys are it is relitively easy to injure the mussels in the back. It is not just a matter of over doing it which can cause injury. If you are a physicaly active person sooner or later you slow down for a rest and at this point the mussels will cool down and get stiffer. Now the stage is set, all you need to do is turn your upper body straning the back mussels. The pain may or may not begin at this point. Unless the damage was done earlier then you will most likely feel it. Thus the sharp pain.
With this in mind it is very important to ensure you do proper warm up and cool down excersise with your work out. Alowing the mussel groups to be prepared well working out and the cool down, helps to keep them from getting too tight so they can go back to a more limber state.
With all this said it would be best to see a doctor and follew their instructions. They may prescribe anti-inflamitories or mussel relaxcents which will reduce the pain while it heals. They may recomend stopping or modifing your workout.
But if it is mussel spasums! I would recomend not to stop moving completly as this will alow the mussel to get tighter and hurt more. also try to avoid jerking motions especailly while lifting weights and make sure you are properly positioned, go back to the basics.
Sorry for any spelling errors I could not get the spell check to work.References : I am not a professional only a fellow suffer of occational back pain. Consult a doctor and then talk to the trainers where you work out when modifying your work out.
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