Lower Back Pain Causes:

What To Know BEFORE Treatment…..

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Before instituting treatment, it is very important to understand the symptoms and properly diagnose the lower back pain causes. Your physician should perform a careful examination and take your medical history before determining possible causes of lower back pain. But if you are researching your own lower back pain symptoms, this step can save you considerable expense and medical frustration. Taking charge on one’s own health care is critical. These are some of the tests you might encounter, and knowing about what each is indicative of will help you quickly arrive at a proper treatment.

One good example of a test done during a medical exam is the Straight Leg Raising Test. With the patient lying in the supine position (on his back), the doctor grasps the ankle while keeping the knee extended, and lifts the leg to determine the range of flexion in the hip joint. If pain is felt in the other leg (known as contralateral radiation), there is nerve root compression.

Variations of this test, which include dorsiflexion of the foot and pressing upon the popliteal fossa (where the tibial nerve is located) while extending a flexed knee also demonstrate a pinched nerve.

The presence of lumbar herniation may also be demonstrated with the straight leg raising test and dorsiflexion of the foot.

Imaging procedures such as X-rays and CT scans are not used in patients with acute lower back pain unless any of the Lower Back Pain Symptoms are present.

For patients with chronic lower back pain, imaging techniques would help the doctor determine the lower back pain causes.

The most commonly used diagnostic tests used in the medical community today for lower back pain patients are…

Plain X-ray: Best used in patients whose lower back pain has not improved or has worsened after 30 days. X-rays are indicated in patients who have suffered significant trauma, patients 50 years old and above who have experienced mild trauma, those with osteoporosis, and individuals with a history of prolonged steroid use. X-rays can also detect bone deformities (such as scoliosis), bone fractures, and bone changes due to aging.

Myelogram: A special type of X-ray which involves the direct injection of a radio-opaque dye into the spinal canal. This test is done together with a CT scan if surgery is planned on the patient.

CT scan: Not used in acute back pain cases, but may be invaluable when the patient presents with lower back pain symptoms, indicative of spinal canal and bone infection, fracture, tumor, and cauda equina syndrome.

MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging): Indicated for the same diseases as in CT scans. The use of MRIs in detecting disc herniations have produced mixed results. One study has shown that MRIs failed to diagnose 20% of ruptured discs that are discovered during surgery. MRIs of patients without low back pain, on the other hand, have revealed bulging discs in 40% of cases.

Bone density: Used to detect osteoporosis and weakness in the vertebrae. Although lower back pain is not a symptom of osteoporosis, bone fractures resulting from this condition manifest with pain.

Electromyelogram (EMG): A nerve test performed by placing small, fine needles into the muscles in order to monitor electrical activity. Commonly used in chronic lower back pain cases, the EMG could determine the level of nerve root damage and assist the doctor in distinguishing between muscle disease and nerve root disease.

These imaging techniques would assist the doctor in determining the lower back pain causes.