Why does back pain occur?
How to figure out why there are unpleasant (painful) sensations in the back and lower back? A person who considers himself absolutely healthy will feel confused and make guesses. Most likely, at first he will decide that his muscles hurt from overload. When the problem does not go away after a week, new versions will be required. Back pain on the right above the lower back may have the following causes:
- Urgent treatment of the back and spine is required. Pain may indicate osteochondrosis and other similar problems.
- Your kidneys need to be checked. Kidney diseases occupy second or third place after problems with the spine and joints.
- A pinched nerve. This is also a common phenomenon - pain in the right side of the back above the lower back can occur after carrying a heavy load or falling.
- Diseases of various internal organs. The problem may appear due to pancreatitis, stomach ulcers, or intestinal problems.
- Stress. This is also one of the likely causes of pain.
If a person leads an inactive lifestyle, is constantly exposed to stress, and does not know how to relax, then problems can arise without a serious illness. But if left untreated, even regular stress will lead to serious consequences.
Types of lumboischialgia:
- muscular-tonic - characterized by spasms in the lower back, mobility is sharply limited, visible deformation of the spine is possible
- vegetative-vascular - burning pain, the leg goes numb (usually the foot). Cooling and pale skin, fever, or chills may occur.
- Neurodystrophic – acute pain, intensifies at night. Possible thinning of the skin.
- A combination of all forms of lumboischialgia. May bother you for years. The period of remission is replaced by exacerbation. Perhaps sciatica , pain in the buttocks or thigh, radiating to the foot and lower leg.
How to find out what hurts
Having found out what causes back pain on the right above the lower back, you can move on to effective therapy. To begin with, it is worth reporting one important fact. If the pain goes from the side towards the spine, then this indicates (as a rule) kidney disease. When the pain is directed from the spinal column to the sides, it signals problems of a different nature - this requires checking the condition of the vertebrae and intervertebral discs.
If the right side hurts from the back above the lower back, and the sensation is pulling and quite intense, then it is most likely the kidneys. With a slight physical impact on the lumbar region, you can feel the pain reverberating with each blow. When the sensations are very acute, there is no longer any doubt - most often it is renal colic.
Does the right side of your back hurt above the lower back, but the sensations are blurred and unclear? This is how disorders in the spinal column usually manifest themselves. The patient may require treatment of the spine and joints. However, much depends on the nature of the disease.
First aid for an attack
Attacks always occur suddenly and are difficult to prepare for. But patients with such conditions should know the rules of first aid. To reduce the severity of pain, it is recommended:
- take a pain reliever from the NSAID group;
- take a comfortable position on your healthy side in the fetal position for unilateral pain or on your back for bilateral pain (preferably lie on a hard surface, such as the floor);
- apply dry heat to the area of greatest pain;
- remain completely calm and avoid physical activity.
Diagnostics: methods of diagnosis
If your back hurts above the lower back on the right, the causes can be found through careful diagnosis. Depending on the preliminary diagnosis, X-ray or ultrasound is chosen. Almost always, the patient needs to donate blood and urine. The process looks like this:
- Kidney problems are detected through blood and urine tests and ultrasound. Organ disorders affect the composition of urine - an increased content of salts is found in it, and sometimes blood is also found. Blood tests are also a good way to confirm (or refute) the diagnosis.
- When a patient has a spinal problem, their blood and urine are usually normal. An x-ray is required to check the condition of the vertebrae. It will show characteristic changes - osteophytes. It will also be possible to see problems with intervertebral discs.
- Ultrasound is used in most cases to diagnose internal organs. If the back hurts on the right side above the lower back, and the patient’s tests are normal, then the doctor may prescribe ultrasound diagnostics. In most cases it gives good results.
Making a diagnosis is sometimes difficult - the patient may have complex diseases. This is especially true for older people who experience degenerative changes in bone tissue, osteochondrosis, and organ diseases.
Why does it hurt?
Possible reasons:
- Lumbosacral radiculitis
- Osteoporosis
- Osteochondrosis
- Spinal injuries
- Changes in intervertebral discs
- Congenital spinal deformity
- Facet syndrome
- Neuropathies of various origins
- Inflammation and tumors
- Spinal circulatory disorders
Additional reasons:
- gynecological diseases
- oncology
- tuberculosis
- kidney and urinary tract diseases
- gastrointestinal diseases
- ectopic pregnancy
- post-injection complications
Treatment: how to get rid of pain
Pain on the right side of the back above the lower back will go away after proper therapy. When stones are detected in the kidneys, doctors strive to break the formations or remove them surgically. But first, the cause is always identified, and only then a set of medications is prescribed.
When the back hurts on the right above the lower back in men, this can signal nervous tension, a pinched nerve under load. This requires physical therapy, various exercises, and in critical situations, surgery. Disorders in the spine are different, sometimes they require urgent treatment.
For osteochondrosis, drugs are prescribed: analgesics, antispasmodics, various vasodilators. Physiotherapy helps - the patient is offered different types of massage. They also give injections of drugs that increase muscle tone. Osteochondrosis may also require surgery.
What to do if a nerve is pinched in the lower back and radiates to the leg?
Unacceptable:
- get physical activity, try to “warm up”;
- take a very cold or hot bath;
- do an unprofessional massage.
To alleviate the condition, you need to remove pressure clothing, take painkillers (diclofenac, ibuprofen, Ketorol) and lie down, and there should be no drafts in the room. A warm bath will help relieve excessive muscle tension. After your condition improves, be sure to get medical advice.
Prevention of back pain
The best prevention of diseases is an active lifestyle, proper nutrition and giving up bad habits. This will not eliminate the risk of getting sick 100%, but it will reduce the likelihood of many diseases and improve the quality of life. It is difficult to deal with hereditary factors, poor ecology, and unforeseen situations (injuries).
It is recommended to maintain good physical shape - it guarantees a high quality of life. When spinal diseases are detected, it is easier for someone who is already in good shape to stay in shape.
It is worth undergoing regular examinations at the clinic - it will help identify diseases in the early stages and prevent their development. If you have a negative hereditary factor, you should definitely contact the clinic. Heredity cannot be changed, but it can be successfully combated by preventing diseases.
Causes of pain
Most often, lower back pain radiating to the leg occurs due to diseases of the spinal column. Many of these pathologies are characterized by so-called referred pain, when discomfort appears not only in the affected area of the spine, but also in other areas:
- buttocks;
- legs;
- hip joint;
- abdominal area;
- other parts of the spine.
Referred pain is caused by compression of nerve roots and blood vessels. Due to compression, the nerves transmit “wrong” signals, and pain appears in healthy organs and parts of the body. One of the main factors leading to lumbar pain is improper physical activity. Also, chronic diseases of the spine can be aggravated due to physical inactivity or frequent forced postures (stooping work, etc.), tight clothing, lack of sleep and unbalanced nutrition. Severe lower back pain radiating to the legs requires comprehensive diagnosis and mandatory medical supervision. Attempts at self-medication can only worsen the patient's condition. Pathologies of the spinal column, in the absence of treatment, progress and cause even more severe destruction of cartilage and vertebrae, damage to nerves and blood vessels, up to paralysis. Other diseases that may accompany this syndrome are also very dangerous and, without treatment, lead to serious consequences. For example, a similar condition sometimes occurs with duodenal ulcers, tuberculosis infections and kidney diseases.
What pathologies can cause referred pain in the legs?
Spinal diseases that cause lower back pain radiating to the left or right leg can be:
- deforming;
- degenerative-dystrophic;
- inflammatory.
- With deforming diseases, the anatomy of the spine is disrupted; accordingly, the muscles around it, as well as internal organs, are displaced. Contrary to popular belief, various types of curvature of the spinal column (scoliosis, kyphosis and lordosis) can appear at any age, especially in people who lead a sedentary lifestyle. When the spine is deformed, the load on the body is distributed unevenly, which is why one leg “works” more than the other, its joints bear an excess load, which causes pain in the knee, hip, and foot. In unadvanced cases, spinal curvature can be eliminated with the help of exercise therapy and other conservative treatment methods
- With degenerative pathological processes, the vertebrae often become displaced and the height of the intervertebral discs decreases. A common disease such as osteochondrosis can cause leg pain. With arthrosis, osteophytes are formed - sharp bone growths that injure nerve roots, blood vessels and muscle tissue. These diseases are chronic, but in the early stages they can be successfully treated with therapeutic methods
- Inflammatory pathologies, such as arthritis, can also lead to referred pain in the legs. This disease also requires mandatory medical supervision, since inflammation can lead to tissue necrosis or sepsis.
Saving your lower back
Treatment of diseases of the back and, specifically, the spine always begins in the same way - medications that relieve inflammation are prescribed in combination with muscle relaxants. These drugs relieve muscle spasm and eliminate one of the main causes of pain. In addition to them, warming ointments or gels and B vitamins may be prescribed. Some specialists prescribe chondroprotectors - medications that nourish cartilage.
After the research results have arrived and the doctors are convinced that it is the patient’s spine, joints and muscles that need treatment, they move on to procedures that will help temporarily eliminate the cause of pain in the back, right, left, above and below the lower back, as well as in this area itself . This is primarily massage and physiotherapy. Both methods are designed to improve blood flow in the muscles and relax them.
Sometimes manual therapy is necessary for treatment. The goal of the technique is to bring joints and bones to an anatomically correct position, for which it is necessary to relax some muscles and increase the tone of others. Before prescribing this technique, it is necessary to do an MRI: in most cases, it is contraindicated for herniated intervertebral discs, however, depending on the location of the defect, it can be prescribed and will lead to an improvement in the condition.
The obtained result must be consolidated. To do this, the patient needs to undergo a course of physical therapy (physical therapy) in the clinic, and then perform the necessary exercises at home. In the compulsory medical insurance system, there is a limit on the number of exercise therapy sessions per year, but commercial centers can afford to support patients with chronic lumbar pain to the extent necessary for the person.