The human body is often considered one of the most complex mechanisms of the world. Some are of the opinion that the amount of work a human body performs, chemically and physically would outrun all the workshops and the laboratories. Just like any other machinery, the human body also experiences wear & tear and requires constant maintenance till the day it completely shuts down.
Human Body and its Associated Pains
The human body experiences certain types of discomfort from time to time because of some issues or damages in the organs. Often this feeling of discomfort is manifested in the form of pain. As per the International Association for the Study of Pain, the definition of pain stands as thus: ‘an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage.
A human body might experience various kinds of pains like for example, pain in the stomach region, limbs, back, head, and back, to name some. Pains are also categorized depending on the type of system that is affected. Examples include nervous, gastrointestinal, orthopedic, renal, muscular, and many more. The causes associated with pains can be varied. They can be due to damage caused by illness, accidents, leading a bad lifestyle, etc.
Of the various pains that the human body experiences, back pain, and headaches are considered the most common ones. Despite the trouble, many do not pay heed to the backaches because often they are not constant. Clinically backaches are categorized in the following sections:
Cervical or Neck
Thoracic or Middle back
Lumbar or Lower Back
Pelvic or Hip
The interesting thing about backaches is that they do not have any major identifiable causes. Most of the times backaches are caused by fatigue, which goes away once the body has rested and recovered. Apart from the non-specific causes, the other primary reasons that cater to backaches are:
- Fractures in the spine
- Metastatic Cancer
- Degenerative and autoimmune diseases like Spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.
- Infections like an epidural abscess, osteomyelitis, etc.
Various studies suggest that about 90 percent of the world population have experienced backache sometime in their life on more than one occasion. Backache is often considered as the major reason for missed workdays in the developed countries. Due to varied causes, backache is now one of the common causes of disability in the older generation. Therefore, managing such pain is extremely important as soon as they rear their heads up.
Gone are the days when managing backaches was a pain in the neck because now in the era of digital advancement, help is just a click away. Many websites like spine and pain center Columbia MD offer their quick help to ailing patients via the internet. Since the whole system is digitized, therefore pain management becomes quite easy and takes much less time.
Diagnosis and Prognosis
Diagnosing backaches usually follows a generic approach. The important features in diagnosis include severity and duration along with other factors like the previous history of backaches (if any) and possibilities of trauma. Some factors that constitute red flags constitute sudden weight loss, urinary or kidney infections, previous history of cancer, etc. The most common method in diagnosing backaches is the ‘straight leg test’ followed by MRI and specific laboratory tests.
Treating backaches is broadly classified into three major categories:
- Non-medical: As the name suggests, this form of treatment does not include any kind of medicine. It includes therapies like massage, acupuncture, spinal manipulation, tractions, physical exercises, etc.
- Medical: It includes the administration of medicines like anti-inflammatory drugs, muscle relaxers, injections, etc. to help in easing out the pain.
- Surgical: In severe cases, sometimes, surgical intervention is needed to correct the issue that might be the cause of the pain.
Backache is often not life-threatening unless it is a manifestation of the disorders in the vital organs of the pelvic region. The prognosis or the outcomes of backaches are commonly considered positive in the clinical world. The amount of time required to recover completely from a chronic backache is usually six weeks. This period of recovery is heavily dependent on other factors, like mental health or any other previous existing condition.
Backache is a common ailment that affects millions worldwide. Most of the time, it is related to posture and lifestyle issues. Therefore, we on an individual level should make a conscious effort to make good choices so that we need not suffer not only in the hands of backache but also for other diseases.