- By Dr. Mary Alphonse
What is Lumbago..?
Lumbago is low back pain involving the muscles, nerves, joints and bones of the lower spine. It is generally caused by overuse, injury or from sudden strain and sprain.
- Lumbago can be classified by duration as acute (pain lasting less than 6 weeks), sub-chronic (6 to 12 weeks), or chronic (more than 12 weeks).
- Lumbago can also be classified by the underlying cause as either mechanical, non-mechanical, or referred pain.
What are the Risk factors..?
- Younger adults (aged 30 to 60 years) experience back pain from the disc space itself as lumbar disc herniation or degenerative disc disease or from a back-muscle strain or other soft tissue strain.
- Older adults (over 60) suffer from pain due to joint degeneration such as osteoarthritis or spinal stenosis or from a compression fracture.
What are the Common Causes..?
- A herniated disc as seen on MRI, can cause low back pain.
- The majority of LBP is result of non-serious muscle or skeletal issues such as sprains or strains.
- Common causes include sprain from improper weight lifting, poor posture, lack of regular exercise, a fracture, a ruptured disc or arthritis.
- Much more often, our habits are responsible for the development of lumbago - the adoption of the wrong posture during daily activities, insufficient physical activity, as well as overloading of the lumbo-sacral spine resulting from taking an incorrect position when bending, lifting heavy objects or standing.
Other General Causes:
- Obesity, weight gain during pregnancy, strain, poor physical condition, and poor sleeping position can also contribute to low back pain.
- Physical causes may include osteoarthritis, degeneration of the discs between the vertebrae or a spinal disc herniation, broken vertebrae such as from osteoporosis or, rarely, an infection or tumor of the spine.
Causes in Women:
- Women may have acute low back pain from medical conditions affecting the female reproductive system, including pelvic inflammatory disease, endometriosis, ovarian cysts, ovarian cancer, or uterine fibroids.
- Nearly half of all pregnant women report pain in the lower back or sacral area during pregnancy, due to changes in their posture and center of gravity causing muscle and ligament strain.
How can low back pain be classified..?
- Musculoskeletal - mechanical including muscle strain, muscle spasm, herniated discs, compressed nerve roots, degenerative discs or joint disease, and broken vertebra, osteoarthritis, herniated nucleus pulposus, herniated disk, spinal stenosis or compression fracture.
- Inflammatory - HLA-B27 associated arthritis including ankylosing spondylitis, reactive arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, etc.
- Referred pain from internal organs such as gallbladder disease, kidney stones, kidney infections, and aortic aneurysm, among others.
- Malignancy - bone metastasis from lung, breast, prostate, thyroid, among others.
- Infectious – such as osteomyelitis, abscess.
What is the Underlying Pathology..?
- The lumbar or lower back region is made up of five lumbar vertebrae (L1-L5).
- In between these vertebrae are fibrocartilaginous discs, which act as cushions, preventing the vertebrae from rubbing together while at the same time protecting the spinal cord.
- An intervertebral disc has a gelatinous core surrounded by a fibrous ring.
- Most of the disc is not served by either the circulatory or nervous systems – blood and nerves only run to the outside of the disc.
- Over time, the discs lose flexibility and the ability to absorb physical forces.
- This decreased ability to handle physical forces increases stresses on other parts of the spine, causing the ligaments of the spine to thicken and bony growths to develop on the vertebrae.
- As a result, there is less space through which the spinal cord and nerve roots pass causing a nerve compression.
- When a disc degenerates as a result of injury or disease, the makeup of a disc changes, blood vessels and nerves may grow into its interior and/or herniated disc material can push directly on a nerve root.
- Any of these changes may result in back pain.
What are the Diagnostic Tests and Scans..?
Most low back pain is caused by muscle and joint problems, this cause must be separated from neurological problems, spinal tumors, fracture of the spine, and infections, among others.
- X-ray. Provides information on the bones in the spine; used to test for spinal instability, tumors and fractures.
- CT scan. Captures cross-section images of the vertebrae and spinal discs. Used to check for herniated disc or spinal stenosis.
- Myelogram. Allows identification of problems within the spine, spinal cord and nerve roots. An injection of contrast dye illuminates the spine prior to an x-ray or CT scan.
- MRI scan. Displays detailed cross-section of the components of the spine. Useful to assess issues with lumbar discs and nerve roots, as well as ruling out causes of lower back pain like spinal infections or tumors.
What are the Preventive measures..?
- Exercise. Effective in preventing pain recurrences in chronic lumbago.
- Medium-firm mattresses are more beneficial for chronic pain than firm mattresses.
- Rest. Ceasing activity for a few days allows injured tissue and even nerve roots to begin to heal, which in turn will help relieve lower back pain.
- However, more than a few days of rest can lead to a weakening of the muscles, and weak muscles have to struggle to adequately support the spine.
How Homeopathy helps..?
- Homeopathy takes a holistic approach through a complete evaluation and analysis of the mind, body and physique.
- Alongside with the identification and removal of the root cause or triggering factors, adapting apt lifestyle modifications accordingly, fastens the healing process.
- Homeopathy is highly effective in resolving acute and chronic low back pain of all age groups for a long lasting and permanent cure.
- Homeopathy is the curative solution to your lumbago problems.
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