Low back pain is a very common problem around the world and affects people's quality of life greatly. The underlying causes of this pain and the form of the pain may vary from person to person. In this article, I will try to answer all the questions about low back pain. I will provide patients with low back pain with every detail I think they need to know before making a critical decision about their treatment, and provide the information they need to make the right decision. It is known as the most common cause. Many people experience back pain at some point in their lives. When we examine the research conducted by Mayo Clinic, we see that 80% of the world's population has experienced low back pain at some point in their lives, and 25% of people who applied to the hospital have complaints of low back pain in their medical history in the last 3 months.
Low pain, which is so common, can have many causes, from a simple muscle spasm to serious cancers. If you want to learn in which situations we should take our back pain more seriously, I recommend you read this article carefully from start to finish.
Anatomy of the Waist Region
It would not be wrong to describe the back region, which is the basis of posture and balance in the human body, as an engineering marvel. This region, which carries the body weight, has a strong yet flexible structure. The better we know our waist anatomy, the better we can protect the health of this structure and increase the comfort of our daily lives.
Lumbar Spine
The structure called the lumbar spine, which refers to the region between the lower ribs and the upper part of the hip, is a natural It has curvature. This curve is called Lumbar Lordosis and helps balance the weight of the head area by the spine and distribute body weight proportionally.
When we look at the anatomy of the lumbar region in general, there are 5 vertebral bones in this region, the structure we call vertebrae. We see that there is. The vertebrae in the region are called L1, L2, L3, L4 and L5. Between the vertebrae, there are structures called discs that allow spinal movement and protect the vertebrae. The vertebrae are connected to each other by facet joints. These joints make the spine more stable. Joints are covered with soft cartilage to maintain mobility.
Sacrum
The sacrum is triangular in shape and consists of 5 bones fused together. It is located behind the pelvic area. The sacrum is connected to the spine with L5, and to the coccyx with the caxiegal end.
Coccyx (Coccyx)
The coccyx, located at the bottom of the spine, is a structure that does not have a specific function in humans, but the surrounding muscles and It is anatomically important for ligaments.
Who Gets Low Back Pain? Who is at Risk? Let's write them down item by item
As I mentioned before, low back pain is one of the problems that affects many people. From desk workers to manual workers; Everyone, from sports enthusiasts to those who like to sit on the couch all day, is at risk for different reasons. When we look at the causes of pain, we need to consider many different reasons such as genetic factors, life habits and occupation. If I had to categorize the causes of low back pain, I can talk about two separate categories: personal and professional risk factors.
Low Pain and Personal Factors
When we look at personal factors, it depends on the person's life decisions such as age, weight and lifestyle. We can talk about the factors that occur as a result of birth and the genetic factors that affect a person's life from birth, regardless of his or her choice. Although genetic factors cannot be changed, they must be taken into consideration during the diagnosis process.
Uncontrollable Personal Risk Factors
In this category, we can examine the causes of low back pain that the person cannot change and therefore cannot be controlled.
Genetics
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Back pain such as ankylosing spondylitis, which can occur genetically, is a type of arthritis. Genetic coding is effective in the emergence of these pains, and in such a case, it would be a better approach to address the complaints by reducing the symptoms of the disease rather than correcting the cause of the disease. Similarly, degenerative disc disease is estimated to be genetic.
Age
Changes in the human body over time may trigger diseases that may cause low back pain. Age is an important factor in diseases that occur due to wear and tear, such as disc degeneration and spiral stenosis. The risk of low back pain begins to increase between the ages of 30 and 40, and towards the age of 60, low back pain occurs much more frequently than before the age of 40. It is possible for people over the age of 60 to experience lower back pain due to both aging and osteoarthritis.
Gender
Due to hormones, low back pain occurs more commonly in women than in men. has been observed. It has also been revealed that postmenopausal women experience lower back pain more than other adults. Pregnancy and multiple births are situations that trigger lower back pain. For this reason, low back pain is much more common in women than in men.
Controllable Personal Risk Factors
Overweight
Today, excess weight is seen as a harbinger of many diseases. It is also possible to observe the negative effects of excess weight in the waist area, which is of critical importance in carrying body weight in a balanced manner. A body mass index of 30 or above poses a threat for low back pain.
Sedentary Lifestyle
Not exercising regularly and sitting in the same position for a long time can trigger low back pain. It is quite effective. Therefore, one should move regularly without straining the body. According to the World Health Organization, you should take 8,000 steps a day for a healthy life. I would also like to remind you that n is recommended.
Smoking
Smoking is a cause of many diseases, just like overweight and sedentary life. It may be the cause or trigger. It is also known that smoking affects the success rate of surgical methods used in the treatment of low back pain. Smokers experience more back pain problems than those who quit smoking; Studies have proven that people who quit smoking experience more back pain problems than people who have never smoked in their lives.
Low Pain and Occupational Factors
When we look at a person's daily routine, usually 1/3 of the day is sleeping, 1/3 of the day is sleeping. We see that the 3 of them proceed in a fairly standard way, such as working or going to school. This routine can be effective in the occurrence of serious occupational diseases in some special cases. Doing repetitive movements, lifting heavy items or standing for long hours are among the occupational risk factors for the emergence of low back pain. At this point, although it is thought that lower back pain occurs more in jobs that rely on physical strength, people who work at a desk may also experience lower back pain as a result of constantly working in the same position.
Low Pain in Children (an issue that is not mentioned much but is important in the question of who gets low back pain, so I added it, we can remove it. )
I can easily say that the problem of lower back pain has become more common in children who start school life. Low back pain that is not due to any injury or trauma occurs very rarely before adolescence. However, overloaded school bags can cause muscle fatigue in children and strain the back area. The ideal backpack weight for children should be 15-20% of the child's body weight. I recommend not carrying bags heavier than this. If it is necessary to carry a heavier school bag than the range I recommend, backpacks in the trolley format should definitely be preferred.
Classification of Low Back Pain According to Duration of Occurrence
When classifying low back pain, we look at the duration of the pain and the cause of its occurrence. Within the scope of this classification, I will talk about 3 types of low back pain. Acute low back pain, subacute low back pain and chronic low back pain; It allows us to define low back pain, which is classified according to the duration of occurrence.
Acute Low Back Pain
It is the most common type of low back pain. It occurs suddenly and usually goes away within a few days. It is not expected to last more than a few weeks. Acute back pain, which we can describe as the body's response to tissue damage due to sudden movement or an accident, decreases and disappears with tissue healing.
Subacute Low Back Pain
This is the definition we use for pain that continues between 6 weeks and 3 months. If the pain is severe and negatively affects the person's quality of life, intervention is required. Compared to chronic pain, it is more manageable for the patient. Subacute low back pain should be monitored because it carries the risk of recurrence and becoming chronic.
Chronic Low Back Pain
Low pain that lasts longer than 3 months is classified as chronic low back pain. This type of pain negatively affects the person's quality of life. The cause of pain must be determined and the treatment planned according to this cause.
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We see that it arises from mechanical reasons. However, there are also non-mechanical causes of low back pain that occur due to reflection. Within the scope of mechanical low back pain, anomalies seen in the spine and injuries caused by trauma are the causes of low back pain. We can also examine low back pain that occurs due to infection or inflammation in the category of non-mechanical low back pain. In addition, we consider back pain that occurs due to another disease, even if there is no problem in the spine, as reflected back pain. Autoimmune diseases and tumors can cause referred back pain.
In some cases
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