Low Back And Leg Pains
No fewer than 5% of the total population of the United States experiences low back and related leg pains at least once in a lifetime. More appropriately there are 60-80% chances of an individual experiencing moderate to debilitating pains in these focal areas some time or the other. In most cases the pains are of short duration and can be relieved by a combination of surgery, medication, or both, and physio- therapy and exercise.
Causes
Factors leading to back and leg pains are various and differ vastly according to intensity and individual lifestyles.
- Age and related macular degeneration, along with osteo malacia, is one medical factor.
- Severe falls and accidents, causing trauma and injury.
- Stressed and torn ligaments resulting in pain is common among athletes.
- Surprisingly, smokers have a greater incidence of the aforesaid pains. Smoking has greater impact on people with damaged spines.
- Excessive and misguided exercise regimes may often result in back pains, associated with leg pains.
- Obesity, sedentary lifestyles as well as nutritionally imbalanced diets go a long way in promoting low back and buttock pains.
- Lumbar disc degeneration is a common factor among the aged groups.
Symptoms
- Low back and leg pain should be distinguished, although they are often interlinked.
- Low back pain is more of a mechanical pain, rather than nervous pain, symphonized by dull pains and debilitated movements, at times to the intensity of total immobility.
- Lower extremity pain is characterized by pinching pains which are a result of pressure on nerves. It would be felt as “radicular” pain shooting down the leg. Mild cases may experience numbness, whereas in more severe cases, acute pain may develop.
Prevention and Treatment
The most effective preventive is a regular exercise regimen customized to keep muscles, joints and bones well-oiled and moving. The Human body is also a mechanism, and will tend to suffer stiffness and breakdown if not kept utilized in the proper manner.
The all pervading walk is a good example of how the joints can be kept moving and prevents the onset of various diseases, among which are back and leg pains.
Various methods can be and have been adopted to treat these ailments, though of course, exercise plays a vital role both as a preventive and as a recuperative.
Surgery, neurosurgery is at best the last options before targeted medication is availed of.
Individual cases benefit from an individual medication regime, and at times surgery may have to be followed up with prolonged physio- therapy and medication.
Case studies have thrown up the incidence of alternative therapy as having worked well enough in the treatment of both back as well as leg pains. Here we are talking about the healing benefits of Yoga and Acupuncture. These seem to be good options to try should the severity of the case be mild enough.
Yet again, in cases where general medicine and alternative therapy will not work, the proper diagnosis, tests, and probably surgery is the only recourse.