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Q&A About Back Pain What are the basic types of back pain and what are their causes?
Q&A About Back Pain What are the basic types of back pain and what are their causes?
| What are the basic types of back pain and what are their causes? |
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| There are many types of back pain and the causes of back pain can often be multi-factorial.There are simple types of back pain which are muscular causes, there are bony causes and disc causes. The muscular causes include muscle strain and sprain most commonly caused by an imbalance where one group of muscles is more developed than another group of muscles. The bony causes include slippage of one vertebral body, that is, the bones of the back slip upon another. This is called spondylolisthesis, a malady is when the bones are actually misaligned. Discogenic causes are usually referred to as “slipped disc.” These discs are cushions between two vertebral bodies, which can rupture or slip. They are structured much like a jelly-filled donut, and are “the shock absorbers of the spine.” If the “jelly” comes out, the donut goes flat and it can no longer act as a shock absorber. This may result in severe pain, or what is commonly known as sciatica or nerve impingement. This jelly that is inside the disc contains some extremely powerful enzymes that can cause terrible inflammation on the nerves if the nerves come in contact with this. These enzymes can also cause back pain as well as nerve pain. Because of this irritation or inflammation that the disc is causing, we use drugs to stop inflammation. Many times we use orally taken non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications or steroid medications. These three types of back pain - muscular, bony and disc - comprise the vast majority of back pain. |
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