Causes of Sudden Lower Back Pain

Sharp, sudden lower back pain, shot through the lumbar spine is familiar to many. Most often occurs when heavy lifting, awkward movement or rapid changes in body position. Sometimes the cause of lumbago can be a prolonged sitting in front of a computer or behind the wheel of the car. A predisposing factor for the development of lumbago is excess body weight, lack of exercise, unhealthy diet, poor posture, etc.

According to international studies, this disorder is very widespread. Almost every third person at least once in his life felt the symptoms of lumbago.

Symptoms of Lumbago

The primary symptom is the abrupt appearance of a sharp, stinging pain in the lumbar region. The most severe pain is felt within 30 minutes of symptom onset; sometimes it can last up to several hours. Then it calms down a bit, but again is aggravated at night.

An attack of sudden lower back pain, in most cases will last for 5 to 7 days. Complete recovery and elimination of all symptoms usually occur during 4 to 8 weeks.

The Causes of Sudden Lower Back Pain

Causes of lumbago are pathological processes in inter vertebral discs. Most often it is lumbar osteochondrosis, intervertebral hernia, and spondylosis.

The immediate cause of the pain, are irritated or pinched nerve roots in the affected segment of the spine and surrounding ligaments. Reflex muscle spasm blocks movement in the affected area to prevent further damage; however it contributes to increased pain.

Sudden Lower Back Pain may be associated with degenerative changes in the joints of fibrous tissue with bone protrusions vertebrae. The changes are not only in the joints of the fibrous ring and the edge rims vertebra, but also in the muscle tendons and ligaments of the spine. The attack can be caused by the general body hypothermia, local hypothermia lumbar region, or be a manifestation of sciatica and other spinal disorders.

When the diagnosis lumbago, it should be remembered that pain may be a symptom of other disorders. It could be inflammatory diseases of the internal organs of the abdomen and pelvis, traumatic and inflammatory lesions of the back muscles, spontaneous intramuscular hemorrhage, etc.

Treatment of Sudden Lower Back Pain

Proper treatment can be administered only after the causes of pain are identified. For an accurate diagnosis and rule out other possible diseases, the doctor may prescribe X-rays of the lumbar spine, computed tomography and if necessary MRI.

Symptomatic therapy with pain medication however does not solve the problem at its root. In order to completely alleviate lumbago, the root cause of the disease must be eliminated.

To be more precise, you need to:

• Restore the metabolic processes in the damaged tissues of the inter vertebral discs;
• Reduce and then eliminate protrusion of the inter vertebral discs.

The basic rule in the treatment of sudden lower back pain is an integrated and phased approach. Each of the following methods has its drawbacks, but most often treatment is carried out with the help of anti-inflammatory drugs, muscle relaxants, physical therapy, acupuncture and gentle osteopathic manipulation. The simultaneous use of these techniques in the treatment of lumbago gives quite good results.