Back Pain!!! Some years ago, I didn't ever think I will have issues with back pain. There was a time I asked an older friend why he was always having back pains, and all his explanations didn't make senses to me until I started working remotely and spending a lot of time sitting at one place, then started to resonate with him, and at a point, I called him and told him I had back pain, and all he said was "go get a good massage and take time to relax provided it is not a therapeutic issue". You will understand as I go on with this post if my back pain is anyway caused by a health condition, or it was just bound to happen.
With back pain, it can be divided into either a primary back pathology, or cases of systemic disorder which could lead to back pains. There are several spinal regions where there can be issues, damage causing back pains. In other cases, it could possibly be muscle aching around the back which would cause burning, or stabbing pain around the back. Basically, back pain is often a spine related problem, so I will do a little spine (vertebral column) anatomy.
The spinal cord has 5 vertebrae regions, which includes the top region which is the cervical vertebrae, located from the neck. The cervical vertebrae have 7 spinal bones in its region, from C1 to C7. The next stage is the thoracic vertebrae, which are located around the chest region. The thoracic vertebrae are larger than the cervical vertebrae. It is basically responsible for holding the ribs, and there are 12 individual bones in the thoracic vertebrae region, ranging from T1 to T12. After the Thoracic vertebrae, is the Lumber vertebrae, which is found between the lower ribs and the pelvic region, and there are 5 single lumber bones in the Lumber region. The Sacral Vertebrae is the next vertebrae column which has 5 individual vertebral bones which are separate in children but fuse together in older people to become 1 bone. The final region is the Coccygeal vertebrae or tail bone, which is the last vertebrae column. It is made of 4 individual coccygeal bones which fuses together to become one. The Cervical Vertebrae, the Thoracic vertebrae and the Lumber Vertebrae, are the movable part of the vertebrae column, while the Sacral vertebrae, and the Coccygeal Vertebrae aren't movable part of the Vertebral column. With movement, there are possibilities that we could sprain the cartilages around the disc, as well as injure the bones.A single vertebral bone is made up of the vertebral body, transverse processes, and spinous processes, which are attachment sites for muscles. Each vertebral bone is separated from other vertebral bones by the intervertebral disc, which serves the purpose of a shock absorber. The Vertebrae column, asides from being an attachment site for muscles, and a site for haemopoiesis, it provides protection for the spinal cord and nerve roots. The Spinal cord passes through the vertebral foramen in an arranged vertebral canal.
In cases related to back pain, there are several reasons why it can exist. It can arise from the degeneration of the backbone and the intervertebral disc. Pains could occur as a result of a Herniated Disc where there is a bulging disc due to a shift, causing the disc to be pushed out of the annulus into the canal. Just as degeneration of the spinal region and herniated disc can cause pains, irritations and damage to nearby region of the spinal cord can also cause pain. A very good example is pain as a result from irritation of the damaging of the spinal nerves as a result of the narrowing of the intervertebral foramen. Nerve pain can become a discomforting pain as they hold muscles. Pains from the Sciatic nerve can also cause a Herniated disc, which could lead to pain in the back, which is referred to as Sciatica.
Muscular back pain is another type of back pain that can cause a lot of discomfort. Muscles such as the Erector Spinae muscles, which includes the longissimus muscle, the spinalis muscle, the iliocostalus, and other muscles such as the semi spinalis, and the multifitus, contributes to muscular back pains due to muscle strains which causes tear or spasm. Another cause of back pain in human is Osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is the degeneration of the joints of the bone. Since the vertebral column has several joints, between C1 to C3, as when as in the Lumbar vertebral known as facet joints. If the cartilages between the joint of the backbone, or the joint of the backbone gets deteriorated, then Osteoarthritis in the vertebral column can lead to back pain. In the case of muscular skeletal back pain, musculoligamentous injury is another reason for back pain. musculoligamentous injury is basically caused by undergoing stressful physical activities like lifting heavy objects, and activities that would affect the lumbar and sacral vertebral column, and that is why it is always called the lumbosacral strain. Spondylosis is another spine degenerative arthritis that can lead to back pain. Other causes of back pain are scoliosis, which is a sideways shift in the spine, leading to a curve in the spine, and Spondylolisthesis, which is the slipping forward of the vertebral column.
Pain could be caused by systemic diseases in the body. With this, there is an underlying cause of the pain, directly related, or not related to the vertebral column. Diseases such as Epidural Abscess, Metastases (secondary cancer) such as Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis,
Treatments and Management for major primary back pains will be support therapies such as heat, physical therapy, massage, Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAID), Anti-Inflammatory injections, Radiofrequency ablation, and Surgical procedures. In cases of systematic diseases that can lead to back pain, it is important to treat the underlying cause of pain.
Conclusion
Back pains can be as a result of age, lack of exercise, weight gain, improper lifting of heavy objects, vertebral inflammation, and diseases that could lead to back pain. In my cases, when I spoke to my physician, I was advised to do more exercise and not sit for long. Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAID) were administered to me, and since I started the exercise, I have been seeing a big difference and subsided pain.
Mayo Clinic - Herniated disk
Mayfield Brain & Spine - Anatomy of the Spine
Sciencedirect.com - Vertebral Column
The Johns Hopkins Medicine - Scoliosis