Healthy Living takes the ache out of back pain
Back pain is a common complaint, in fact, it is second to a cold in referral s for sick leave. There are the traumatic or the non-traumatic cases which require medical attention. In this edition, Healthy Living looks at ways to deal with the aches.
Dr. Andre Sosa, Orthopedic Surgeon
“A ninety percent of us will suffer at least one episode of back pain in our lives and about fifty percent of us will have more than one episode.”
Marleni Cuellar, Reporting
Back pain may not register as a serious medical problem, especially with the myriad of options for painkillers available at drugstores. But an achy back is more than a mere discomfort for some. Orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Andre Sosa explains the extent of pain some patients experience as back pain.
Dr. Andre Sosa
“It can be a simple pain that affects anywhere along the spine running from the neck to any part of the spine to the tailbone and it can also be a pain that triggers or causes pain in other sides of the body, for example pain running the buttocks, pain running down the thighs, pain running down the foot or even pain accompanied by numbness in the lower extremities possibility causing as well—an again depending on the severity—urinary incontinence, inability to urine or even to stool.”
Dr. Sosa explains that when a person seeks consultation about back pain it is imperative to rule out the serious possibilities first. If it is not a symptom of another condition then the back pain is classified as due to a trauma or non-traumatic. Traumatic cases are straight forward, a major fall, accidents or injury may cause fractures, sprains, dislocations and the like.
Dr. Andre Sosa
Dr. Andre Sosa
“The non-traumatic causes can vary depending on the age group. For example an elderly woman comes in with a history of upper back pain, one has to consider the possibility of silent fractures caused. This patient may be osteoporotic, have weak bones. Then there is the younger patient saying man who says I’m only twenty-five years old and I find myself having back pain throughout the day or especially towards the end of my work day. What is happening with me? Am I having arthritis? What’s going on? So these patients are the ones that require a more complete work up, not that you will underestimate or neglect to look for things in other patients but in these cases the cause might be a little difficult to ascertain.”
The most common and preventable cause for non traumatic cases are factors associated with everyday life.
Dr. Andre Sosa
“It may seem like sitting at a desk is not really strenuous, but the fact is that maintaining yourself in an erect position requires the use and work in the muscles. If those muscles are out of condition because of a lack of exercise then they become tired easily. If you’re overweight obviously the stress strain on your muscles, on your bones, on your tendons is too much for what your body is capable of handling. These are individuals who would progress to having osteoarthritis, wear and tear of the joints in the spine and joints in the hips and so on.”
These situations can be addressed by using proper furniture and losing weight. Interestingly, unlike what we’ve been taught from childhood, back pain has little to do with bad posture.
Dr. Andre Sosa
“Even if you have the perfect posture sitting up straight, you can’t maintain that for eight hours. So what is recommended is that you change your position. So at one point in the day you are sitting up straight at your work station then even if the boss doesn’t like it you get up every five minutes in every hour. That is what is recommended; you walkabout allow the blood to circulate allow your muscles to relax, you come back to sit and you push yourself backwards a little.”
Standing up at your desk is also recommended. The idea is to not strain any one group of muscles while avoiding any extreme positions like bending too low forward or backward.
Dr. Andre Sosa
“The aging process is such that by the time were into our third decade of life we already start to see evidence of wear and tear in all the joints and in the back and the spine because it bears the weight of the entire body so it’s vulnerable for that.”
Getting an early start on a routine of healthy eating and regular exercise may reduce your chances of developing more aches and pains as you age.
