Treatment

• Take medicine that reduces muscle and point inflammation
• Wearing back braces and corsets to relieve strain on your back and support it temporarily
• Lying down in a comfortable position if you feel pain
• Apply hot and cold packs to relieve sore and inflamed back muscles alternatively. Immediately after back pain starts, apply ice compresses several times a day, for up to 20 minutes each application. After the spasms and acute pain subside, apply heat packs, again for 20 minutes each application. The hot pack helps loosen tight muscles.

When it lessens:

• Try to get moving again and increase your activity level gradually
• Try not to stay in a single position or do any activity for more than 30 minutes each time
• Avoid lifting heavy items, bending or twisting until you have been pain-free for some time
• Of course avoid activities which causes the pain

Corticosteroid injections for more sever back pain. Injected into the facet joints, the joints between the vertebrae

Sleep is very important for recovery

Sleep lying on your back with a pillow under your knees and/or a squeeze ball at the point of pain to give it a form of acupressure point massage.

Or lying in a foetal position with a bolster between your knees

Physiotherapy including:

• Massage
• Exercising in a swimming pool or hydrotherapy
• Exercise to improve muscle strength, posture and flexibility.
• Relaxing to ease pain and loosen tense muscles

Common causes of back pain :

• Osteoarthritis and facet joint problems.
• Prolapsed discs or herniated discs.
• Strains, sprains and minor injuries such as tears to the muscles, tendons or ligaments, after lifting heavy items or making an abrupt movement while lifting.
• Spondylosis.
• Spondylolithesis.

Other causes:

• Abscesses.
• Tumors.
• Problems in other organs, eg. stomach ulcers, kidney stones, inflamed pancreas, inflammatory bowel disease.
• In older people, low back pain may be a sign of Paget's disease, Parkinson's disease, alteration of the bone tissue, disease of the nervous system.

You can prevent back problems by:

Doing regular exercises e.g. swimming. Exercise increases the flexibility and strength of the abdominal muscles and the back, which help align and support the spine. Back injury will be minimised, flexibility in the thighs and hips keep the pelvic bone correctly aligned.

Choose exercise suited to your fitness level and do gentle warm-up stretches before and after exercising.

Sitting - Use a seat with good lower back support if not add a cushion as support. Keep your hips and knees level when seated.

Standing - Maintain a neutral pelvic position and avoid rounding your back. That is avoid hunching your shoulders and tensing your back. Wear comfortable and low-heeled shoes.

Lifting - Hold the heavy load as close to your body as possible, keep your back straight and bend at the knees. Let your legs take most of the strain of lifting a heavy object. And avoid lifting and twisting your body simultaneously.

Loose Weight - If your weight is 10 per cents more than your ideal body weight, reduce your weight through a proper diet and exercise.

Back Pain

Back pain is felt in the lumbar region or lower back. This area of the back carries the biggest load - the upper body weight plus any weight eg. groceries. It also bends and twists more than the upper back.

Some factors that cost the back problem:

• Ageing - from about age of 30, the discs between the vertebrae in a person's spine begins to deteriorate gradually
• Genetic factors
• Obesity
• Poor posture
• Psychological factors
• Sedentary lifestyle - lack of exercise leads to muscles becoming inflexible, weak stomach muscles, back and obesity
• Work that stress the back etc.