Low back pain in men after age 35 is considered quite common. In such a situation, many patients smear the inflamed area with various ointments, give injections and live, slowly resigning themselves to daily suffering.
However, back pain is formed for several reasons. You won't get rid of the appearance of lower back pain with injections or ointments alone.
In this situation, the patient is diagnosed by a general practitioner, who identifies the causes of low back diseases and prescribes a specific treatment.
Causes of pain
Why does the lower back hurt in men? Low back pain in men appears for the following reasons:
- with the formation of a hernia in the spine;
- due to the occurrence of sciatica;
- with osteoporosis;
- due to osteochondrosis;
- due to compression of spinal nerves;
- due to tumor formation in the back. This cause of illness is also often the result of various ailments in the lower back region.
Pain also occurs during stressful situations.
spinal hernia
Males usually ignore back pain in their lower back. However, these diseases often lead to a hernia in the back.
In such a situation, when the lumbar disc is destroyed, a hernia appears in the back, which sometimes leads to a person's immobilization and disability.
With the formation of an intervertebral hernia, a person experiences severe discomfort in the lower back (right or left), which is a consequence of damage to various sections of the spinal cord.
sciatica
What causes low back pain in men? For example, from a disease like sciatica. This disease is considered to be a complex of pain symptoms that occur when pinching or squeezing the roots of the spinal cord.
Such a disease does not occur as an independent disease, but as a secondary pathological process.
This sciatica appears after the development of osteochondrosis - the destruction of intervertebral discs.
The patient has another attack of sciatica in such situations:
- with physical stress;
- from hypothermia;
- with colds, flu;
- due to general intoxication of the body;
- due to circulatory disorders;
- with sudden or random lumbar movements.
As a result, a man has the following symptoms of lumbar sacral sciatica:
- pain of variable intensity, which is exacerbated by a sudden movement of the back, with falling. In addition, the pain syndrome increases when lifting heavy objects and other physical exercises in the lower back;
- back pain in the lower back when sneezing, coughing, or tension in the abdominal muscles;
- movements are inhibited when the body moves sideways, forwards, backwards;
- the patient is unable to stand on tiptoe or bend.
osteoporosis
If a man bends over and has pain in his back and lower back, he probably has osteoporosis. This disease occurs due to calcium deficiency in the tissues.
As a result, osteoporosis occurs for the following reasons:
- with a deficiency of male sex hormones - testosterone;
- for lack of calcium and vitamin D;
- with a sedentary and inactive lifestyle;
- by taking specific medications;
- with complications from various diseases;
- for bad habits.
In the beginning, with osteoporosis, a person suffers from low back pain. Such attacks are diagnosed by the constant nature of the pain or occur with sudden movement, sneezing, coughing or laughing.
Osteoporosis is harmful for a person as it destroys the vertebrae from the inside. Therefore, men with this disease feel unpleasant ailments when leaning left and right.
Also, lower back pain in men is formed when walking. Thus, the back becomes fragile and spinal fractures occur under heavy loads.
osteochondrosis
What other causes of back pain in men are there? Pain that appears below the waist can be the result of developing spinal osteochondrosis. With such a disease, bone and cartilaginous vertebral tissues grow in a person, which compress the spinal nerves and form pain.
Osteochondrosis often occurs in athletes with increased physical activity.
With this disease, a man has a feeling of "stiffness" in the lower back, and the person is unable to completely straighten the back.So, the back starts to hurt with a sudden movement or if a person bends down.
Doctors like an orthopedist or surgeon know how to cure osteochondrosis. In the treatment of such a disease, doctors slow down the rapid growth of cartilage tissue. Thus, the doctor introduces cell division inhibitors into the patient's body, stretches the vertebrae and prescribes that he wear a corset.
In some situations, the surgeon performs back surgery. Then he releases the pinched nerve.
stretching
With a back injury in a man, the muscles of the back are strained. A person gets sick with muscle strain if they lift weights or exercise too much physically, in a home situation or during sports activities.
To remove inflammation when stretching your back, you need to put a cold compress on the painful place with any product from the freezer. Also, under the compress it is necessary to put a layer of fabric. Keep it on for about 30 minutes.
Then the stretch of the muscles is removed by the ambulance doctors. They assess the patient's condition and prescribe a diagnosis back, preventing more serious injuries from forming.
Stretching in the back and lower back is treated for several weeks. In such a situation, the patient must be at rest, otherwise the treatment of the lower back will be ineffective and the pain will become chronic.
pinched nerve
More often, it is a short man who suffers from ailments in the lower back, which are formed when spinal nerves are compressed. This occurs with sudden movements and exercises with weights, as well as during lifting heavy objects in everyday life.
To avoid pinched nerves, the patient must do all physical exercises with a certain technique - in particular, keep the back straight.
With a nerve compression of the lower back, unpleasant diseases are given to the legs.In such a situation, the patient must lie down on a warm bed.The patient should lie down in a comfortable position - in which the lower back muscles are completely relaxed.
Also, with such a disease, a rolled-up blanket is placed under the patient's knees to relax the lower back. Then the lower back is wrapped in a thick fabric - a woolen warming belt is placed on it.
If the nerve is pinched due to frost or wind, the above steps must be repeated. Also in a similar situation, you can use various heating gels. If after 2 days the man does not feel better, you should seek medical help from a neurologist.
Low back pain as a symptom of a tumor
When pain in the lower back in men is not removed by any medication, a malignant tumor usually appears in Organs internal organs. When such a tumor occurs in the lumbar spine, intense pain is formed. This occurs when nerves are compressed after metastases have formed.
Oncology is considered a serious disease, regardless of location. Almost all carcinomas affect any vertebral segment with metastases.
It should be noted that some tumors cause neurological symptoms that make it difficult for the doctor to identify the primary cause.This applies to tumors that form in the spinal cord.
Tumors such as spinal carcinomas develop rapidly, progress and destroy adjacent organs. Cancer cells quickly reach the spine, so you cannot run your health status. Even the early stage of osteochondrosis leads to serious consequences without good treatment.
Stress
Men's lives are often filled with the pursuit of success, various victories and defeats. So, lower back pain in men usually occurs due to severe fatigue or nervous tension.
A person who is under stress often relaxes.Thus, the load on the lower back increases.
Therefore, this patient needs to rest, visit a new location, or change the type of work. However, the correct diagnosis is made only by a neurologist, who sees exactly what diseases of the spine a person has.
Symptoms
A person often has lower back pain precisely because of enormous stress. Constant pain is formed not only in the lumbar spine region, but can also radiate to the groin, lower abdomen, passing to the male genital organ and legs.
Aching pain in the lower back is formed in a man due to such symptoms: pain when urinating and impotence.
When men have lower back pain, they experience a variety of side effects. Therefore, each doctor makes a different diagnosis for each patient.
Thus, the therapist excludes possible diseases of Organs internal organs and focuses on lumbar pathology.
Diagnosis
When contacting a doctor, many men complain of lower back pain but do not understand what is wrong. Then the therapist with the help of pain (its type) establishes the cause of the formation of a lumbar disease and prescribes a specific treatment for the patient.
When undergoing a diagnosis of unhealthy lower back pain below the waist in men, the patient performs the following activities:
- computed tomography;
- radiography (X-ray examination);
- magnetic resonance tomography (MRI);
- myelography.
Treatment
After establishing the correct diagnosis, the therapist prescribes a specific treatment for the patient: conservative or surgical.
In the conservative treatment of lower back pain in men, the doctor prescribes the patient to use various drugs and ointments, to switch from therapy to exercises, etc. Thus, the patient performs the following actions:
- uses NSAIDs (injections, pills, ointments);
- uses steroid drugs (injections, pills);
- uses means to restore joints (injections, pills, ointments);
- uses drugs that improve phosphorus and potassium metabolism (injections, tablets);
- uses fortifying preparations, vitamin complexes;
- adjust your weight and also change your diet;
- do necessary physical therapy;
- goes for a massage;
- engaged in physical therapy.
With a conservative approach, alternative treatment methods are often used: acupuncture, kinesiology and manual therapy.
Medical treatment
How can a man treat his lower back? When treating lower back pain, a man rubs the inflamed area with various ointments.They are very effective in treating the disease at home.
The ointment relieves lower back pain, muscle tension, or warms the sore spot.
As a result, if the lower back hurts, the man applies the following ointments to the skin:
- analgesics that give an anti-inflammatory effect (menthol, lavender);
- anesthetic ointments;
- various combined preparations that are used for sprains and injuries;
- various chondroprotectors that quickly restore joint cartilage.
In addition, the patient drinks these pills:
- anti-inflammatory;
- muscle relaxants;
- various corticosteroids;
- antidepressants (eg, a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (prescribed only by a doctor);
- with chronic pain in the lower back, the patient takes tricyclic antidepressants;
- makes injections of group B vitamins;
- the doctor injects the patient with a drug consisting of several vitamins.
exercise therapy
What to do if a man's lower back hurts? Therapeutic gymnastics is considered a good prevention and therapy for spinal diseases.During the passage of exercise therapy, the patient strengthens the back muscle corset and corrects the posture.
With diseases of the lower back, the patient performs the following exercises:
- lie on your back, alternately raise your lower limbs by 15 cm and keep your legs on the weight for a certain time;
- it lies on the shoulder blades, bends the legs at the knees at right angles and rises to a great height. After performing this exercise, the man moves his bent legs to the left and right and touches the ground with them;
- slowly and smoothly bends the body in specific directions. During this exercise, the man does not bend his back at chest height, making it uniform;
- gets on all fours and immediately moves right shin and left arm, or vice versa.
Treatment with folk remedies
How else can you deal with a man's lower back pain? For example, you can adopt traditional medicine. When treating an illness with folk remedies, the patient performs the following actions:
- uses horseradish or radish hot compresses, saline compresses, or applies agaric tincture to the skin;
- rub the sore spot. A man uses burdock root or red pepper vodka tinctures;
- wraps the lower back in a woolen belt or lies on a heating pad;
- treated with herbs - drinking decoctions or food supplements that restore inflamed joints and lower back;
- massages the lower back with honey and various warming agents.
Any folk remedies can be used only after diagnosis and identification of the cause of low back pain, as well as in consultation with the attending physician.
Surgery
Back surgery is rarely done and only if the herniated disc causes severe pain or as the disease progresses. This is followed by a long recovery for the patient.
If a man has severe back pain in the lower back due to pathology of Organs internal organs, then surgeons first remove the main source of pain.
Prevention
As any disease is easier to prevent than a few months or years to treat, every man needs to maintain his health every day.Thus, he needs to follow specific prevention methods.
To prevent low back pain, men who don't move around should take short breaks to walk, bend over, or stand up while working.
Don't spend all your leisure time on the computer. At least once a week, you should go for a walk in the park for 1-2 hours.
When sitting, a man needs to maintain a straight posture so that the back does not bend over time and osteochondrosis or scoliosis does not form.
Special exercise therapy strengthens the spinal muscles and increases the flexibility of the spine. Thus, exercise therapy prevents compression of nerves and compression of blood vessels.
In addition, a man should lift heavy loads correctly, evenly distributing the load throughout the body, and at the same time reducing the load on the spine.
So, timely prevention helps men to maintain their own health and avoid many low back diseases.