If ever I needed reminding that I am not a young man anymore, I got it this week. My stepfather and I managed to get his truck stuck in the mud while trying to hook up to my boat.
While helping to push him out, I slipped and fell face first into the mud. Fifteen years ago, I would have bounced up and gone back to pushing, but not today. The fall knocked the wind out of me and I pulled a muscle in my back that had me hunched over like Quasimodo from the “Hunchback of Notre Dame” for the rest of the day.
Back injuries are all too common these days. I would bet that the vast majority of my readers have experienced some pain related to the lower, middle, or upper portion of their backs at some point in their lives. The causes of back pain are numerous in number. Some of these are self-inflicted from a lifetime of bad lifting habits while others are caused by accidents, strains and sports related injuries.
Although the root cause might be different in each case, almost all of them share similar symptoms. The pain is generally classified as sharp and easy to localize or dull and achy in a general area. Sometimes, this pain can radiate down into the buttocks and legs. This is because that inside our backs, we have nerve fibers that branch off from each vertebra in our spinal column.
These nerve bundles do not come out to our body in a straight line; each spinal root supplies a particular dermatome, or area of skin. The lower the injury to the back goes, the lower the corresponding dermatome. For example, an injury to the L1 vertebrae (located high in the small of the back) can actually cause pain to the areas well below the groin. Most minor strains to the muscles are isolated to that particular area and are relatively simple. These can usually be treated with over-the-counter Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDS) such as Advil or Ibuprofen. More serious injuries, particularly acute ones, might necessitate a trip to a physician to rule out any specific bone damage to the affectedarea, however, treatment remains limited to pain control.
If you experience numbness, tingling, or burning secondary to a back injury, seek medical attention. In this case, it usually means that a nerve was damaged in some form. For this, a doctor will need to perform an MRI to find the extent of the damage and can prescribe treatments such as steroid injections that will speed up the recovery process. In either case, work hard to protect your back.
I once heard a pain-specialist physician say that the back only has so many improper lifts in it before it completely gives out. Take care of your back, it’s the only one you’ve got.
If there is a topic that you would like me to explore, please drop me a line at eric.williams@jcjc.edu.
Stay safe out there.
M. Eric Williams, MS, NR-P is a syndicated columnist and the Assistant Director of Emergency Medical Education at Jones County Junior College. He is a current Doctoral Researcher at Delta State University and has 15 years’ experience
