80% of Americans Will Suffer from Back Pain. Know More About it Before It Takes You

No doubt this is one of the most common afflictions mankind faces. It is a disease of walking upright. Eighty percent of the American population will suffer from back pain of one sort or another in their lifetime. It is a major public health problem and very expensive in costs to our society. It is the most common reason people miss work and the leading cause of work related disability.

Back pain is categorized as acute or chronic. If the back pain lasts longer than three months, it is classified as chronic. If it lasts less than a month to six weeks, it can be considered acute. A small percentage of back pain progresses from acute to the chronic time stage.

Low back pain is also classified by its cause. Pain can be radicular; that is, sharp jabbing, burning pain or tingling electrical shocks that run down the leg from the hip to the knee or foot. It is commonly known as sciatica. It can be seen in all age groups. It is made worse by long trips in cars, planes or trains where one sits upright. It is radicular because it follows the nerve pathway distribution. The sciatic nerve forms in the lumbar spine nerve roots and runs down from the hip to the sole of the foot and toes.

Another cause of pain is from spinal stenosis. Here, the nerves have pressure put on them by tightening of the bony spinal canal. This is common in elderly people. Pain occurs after walking a distance. There can be other more specific causes like cancer or trauma of the spine that cause pain.

Finally, a group consists of those called non-specific low back pain. There is no readily identifiable cause for this pain. Many young people have this. It is not related to degenerative arthritis of the spine and like most of the spinal conditions cited above, is not correlated to imaging studies. Even in patients with ridiculer pain, MRI and CT scans do not relate changes to the condition. For example, one could have sciatica in the leg and see changes on the scan such as arthritis or a protruding disk, and still not know that they are cause and effect. Studies do show that chemicals from disks can irritate the nerves in the spine and that the direct application of steroids resolves the condition.

A physical and history by a physician is the first step in care. The pain is classified according to the categories above. If a cause is diagnosed, then a specific therapy will be used. Epidural steroids for radicular pain are one intervention. Other interventions are used for cancer or spinal stenosis. A plan should be devised based on evidence based medicine. It will vary according to whether the pain is acute or chronic. There are few therapies yet fully evidence based, especially for non-specific pain. Main line and alternative therapies along with pharmacologic interventions are the most effective treatments.