Up to 90% of all Americans experience back pain at some point in their lives. If you have ever experienced back pain, you know how inconvenient it can be. Pain in the lower back is even more painful. The thing about low back pain is that it is normally a disease in itself. Instead, it is usually indicative of another condition.
This is the start of a short series on back pain. The reason behind this is that I have had lower back pains for a week. I have always had back problems but I have not experienced this kind of pain before and it is seriously hampering my activities. I have been on pain killers for the past few days and even if they do alleviate the pain, it is not totally gone. So join me as I try to find out more about this condition called backache.
Emedicinehealth provides some interesting bits of information about back pain:
• Low back pain is second only to the common cold as a cause of lost days at work. It is also one of the most common reasons to visit a doctor’s office or a hospital’s emergency department.
• For 90% of people, even those with nerve root irritation, their symptoms will improve within 2 months, no matter what treatment is used—even if no treatment is given.
• Doctors usually refer to back pain as acute if it has been present for less than a month and chronic if it lasts for a longer period of time.
In the next post, let us look at the possible causes of back pain.
Originally posted on May 17, 2008 @ 6:56 pm