Looking Into How to Know If Your Back Pain Is Serious

When dealing with back pain, you’ll experience pain as you stand up, brush your teeth, sit down, breathe, or laugh. Any movement can hurt you.

When you start experiencing back pain, you’ll ask yourself how long the condition will last and whether you should consult a medic. At first, you can take it easy and see what happens.

Different Back Pain Types

Back pain falls into two categories, namely; chronic and acute pain.

-ADVERTISEMENT-

Acute Pain

For acute pain, the pain usually comes about suddenly. If you’re stressed or engaging in strenuous exercise, you might experience acute pain in your back.

Most people are diagnosed with acute pain when they report that their back hurts. The pain won’t last for more than six weeks. In most cases, the cause won’t pose a long-term issue.

Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is serious. The symptoms can impact your mobility, way of life and your health will also be impacted for a prolonged period.

Chronic pain will come about gradually, and it can last for more than six weeks. The pain is also recurrent, which means it can go away and come back regularly.

What is the cause of chronic pain in your back? Chronic pain can be caused by a new injury. Underlying conditions, however, are the real cause of chronic pain. Muscle reconditioning is among the major contributors.

Symptoms

If you’re experiencing pain in your back, it may be because of muscles aching, and you’ll experience a stabbing or burning sensation. Additionally, the pain will radiate to the legs and worsen when you bend, lift, walk, stand, or twist. After learning about the back pain causes, it is vital to learn more about when you should see a doctor.

When Should You See a doctor?

The pain in your back will fade away gradually because of self-care and home treatment within a few weeks. You should visit a physiotherapy clinic in Singapore if the pain:

Is severe, and there is no improvement even after resting
Persists for a few weeks
Causes numbness, weakness, and you’ll experience a tingling feeling in one or all your legs
Spreading down to your legs if the pain is extending below the knee
You’re experiencing unexpected weight loss

In some cases, the pain in your back might be because of a severe medical issue. You should seek medical assistance immediately if the pain:

Has been accompanied by fever
Causes bladder or bowel issues
Follows a blow to the back or another injury

What are Back Pain Causes?

Back pain will develop without a cause that the medics can identify using tests. Some of the conditions linked to the pain in your back include:

Ruptured or bulging disks- there are back pain serious reasons, and they may cause the soft materials present in the disk to rupture or bulge, and the nerves will be pressed. Nevertheless, you can have a ruptured or bulging disk without experiencing any back pain. Disk disease can be identified if an X-ray is conducted on your spine.
Ligament or muscle strain- when you lift heavy objects repeatedly, you’ll strain your spinal ligaments and back muscles. If your physical condition is poor, when your back is strained repeatedly, you’ll experience painful spasms in your muscles.
Osteoporosis- the spine can develop fractures that result in a lot of pain if the bones are brittle and porous.
Arthritis- this is a condition that usually affects the lower part of your back. In some instances, arthritis in your spine will lead to the narrowing of the space present around your spinal cord. The condition is referred to as stenosis.

Risk Factors

Besides looking into back pain serious reasons, it is important to learn more about the risk factors, and they include:

Lack of exercise: unused and weak muscles in the abdomen and back will lead to you experiencing pain in your back
Age: as you grow older, you’ll start to experience pain in your back
Diseases: ailments such as cancer or arthritis will contribute to issues such as pain in your back
Excess weight: if you have excess weight, your back will be exposed to extra stress
Improper lifting: if you use your back to lift instead of your legs, you’ll experience back pain

You now have a better understanding of the back pain serious reasons. In this case, you should exercise regularly and also avoid improper lifting. For extreme cases, you should visit a physiotherapy clinic in Singapore.

Prevention

You can avoid experiencing pain in your back by ensuring your physical condition has improved. You can also go ahead and learn about proper body mechanics and practice all that you have learned.

If you want your back to be strong, you should:

Build muscle flexibility and strength- back, and abdominal exercises will strengthen the core. Ensure the muscles are well conditioned such that they can work together at ease
Exercise- you can take part in aerobic exercises that have a low impact if you don’t want to strain your back. You can increase the endurance and strength of your back in the process while ensuring your muscles can function better.
Quit smoking- smoking will increase the risk of lower pain in your back. The risk will increase with the number of cigarettes that you’ll smoke in a day. To reduce the risk, you should quit smoking.
Maintaining a healthy weight- if you’re overweight, your back muscles will strain. You should lose some weight if you want to prevent back pain.

Final Thoughts

You should avoid any movement that will strain your back. Always stand properly such that you can maintain the natural position of your pelvic. When standing for long, place one foot on a footstool such that you’ll take some load off the lower part of your back. You should then alternate your feet. A good posture will ensure that your back muscles will be less stressed.