What Does Your Lower Back Pain Try To Tell You?
As the COVID-19 pandemic led many of us to work from home, neck and lower back pain became prevalent among remote workers. While the ergonomics of a home-office setup is a factor, prolonged sitting also puts too much excessive pressure on your spine. When it comes to lower back pain, several causes may come into play.
Possible causes of your lower back pain
Your back holds a big part of your body where you can find several organs and muscles. So, it’s easy to be confused about the real cause of your lower back pain. Here are the medical conditions that manifest as lower back pain:
- Muscle spasm or muscle cramps is a condition where your back muscles become too tense due to the strain on the back. It usually happens after strenuous activity that affects the back muscles or after an injury.
- Kidney problems often manifest as back pain. However, the pain involved with kidney disorder feels deeper. You would usually feel the pain a few inches higher than your lower back or on your sides. What makes the pain different for kidney problems is that the ache is more constant.
- Hip problems often radiate pain to your lower back. The indications that your hips are the source of the pain are when there is pain in the groin area and hip joints. The common cause of hip pain is osteoarthritis.
- Lumbar radiculopathy or sciatica happens when the nerve roots connected to your spine become damaged or pinched in the lower part of your spine. The pain usually radiates to your hips and thighs. You may also feel numbness or weakness in your legs due to the pinched nerve.
- A bulging disc or herniated disc is a condition where the spinal disk or the shock absorber of the vertebrae ruptures and sag due to excessive strain on the lower back. It may also cause pain in your legs and buttocks that can prevent you from walking comfortably.
Does it hurt when you move your lower back? It could be a bulging disc.
For patients with a bulging disc, moving their lower back can cause the bulged disc to pinch a sciatic nerve and cause pain. Other signs that you have a bulging disc are when you experience pain when sitting, bending forward, coughing, or lifting heavy items.
How is it connected to sciatica?
A bulging disc can lead to sciatica or a slipped disc when it pinches the nerves connected to your leg. The pain can radiate from your lower back to your thighs, calves, and even your foot.
Symptoms of a bulging disc
The common symptoms of a bulging disc in the lumbar spine or lower back include:
- Weakness in the lower extremities
- Pain radiating from the buttocks or lower back to the legs or foot
- Numbness or a tingling sensation on your legs
- Mild to sharp pain when moving, sitting for long hours, jumping, or lifting objects.
How to treat lower back pain due to bulging disc or sciatica
There are a variety of treatments available to alleviate the pain associated with a bulging disc or sciatica. These include:
- Pain medications
- Muscle relaxants
- Steroid injections
- Physical therapy
- Lifestyle changes
Let us help you relieve your pain at Hadi Medical Group
Our team of doctors believes that every patient can get out of the limiting pain caused by a bulging disc and sciatica. Pain management clinics like Hadi Medical Group specialize in interventional pain management treatments to help you manage your pain without falling into the rabbit hole of pain medication addiction.
Pain management treatment options at Hadi Medical Group
Our treatments for sciatica and bulging discs include:
Find out the source of your lower back pain with the experts that you can trust. Hadi Medical Group provides pain management treatments in Brooklyn, Hempstead, Long Beach, and Plainview, New York. Schedule an appointment today and set yourself free from your lower back pain.