Back pain is a very common symptom at any age. Often it indicates the defeat of various systems: musculoskeletal, respiratory, digestive. When your back hurts, don't self-medicate. Only a doctor can quickly determine the cause and treatment tactics.
Backache
Back pain is very different. It can be associated with eating or coughing, with psycho-emotional experiences. The causes of this symptom are gastroduodenitis and cholecystitis, bronchitis and pneumonia, angina pectoris and acute coronary syndrome. However, these diseases are often accompanied by other characteristic ailments, which allow the doctor to correctly make a differential diagnosis.
Much more often, back pain is a sign of damage to the musculoskeletal system. It occurs in such diseases:
- Osteochondrosis (thoracic, lumbar or common).
- Scoliosis.
- Boss.
- Intervertebral hernia.
- spinal stenosis.
By themselves, these degenerative diseases rarely present with pain. However, as the disease progresses, nerve roots and fibers are involved in the process. Their violation, compression leads to the appearance of neurological symptoms:
- Pain in the back, chest, lower back.
- Unusual sensations: burning, tingling, numbness.
- Movement Disorders.
Back pain can be chronic or acute. As a rule, in diseases of the musculoskeletal system there is a clear relationship of discomfort with physical activity, movement or breathing. To remove them, doctors resort to prescribing ointments, tablets and pain relievers.
Treatment
Injections for back and lower back pain are a highly effective treatment method. Often it is with them that pain syndrome therapy begins, especially if the patient's discomfort is very pronounced.
Sometimes, in addition to injections, other forms of anti-inflammatory drugs are used:
- Gels and ointments.
- Tablets, capsules, powders.
- Rectal suppositories.
Most often the same drug is available in different forms. And the doctor selects the optimal option for the patient, relieving pain, taking into account its characteristics, tolerability and concomitant diseases. Some people can't stand injections for fear of pain, and the mere sight of a sharp needle can make them panic. Others, on the other hand, are wary of local forms, deeming them insufficiently effective.
However, more often than not, injections for pain in the lower back or chest are the most popular and best-selling drugs.
Injections
Injections of anesthetic for back pain are used for moderate and severe forms of diseases of the musculoskeletal system. They are also prescribed when it is necessary to achieve a very fast or long-term stable effect.
Some anti-inflammatory shots are prescribed after surgery as a pain reliever. The following medicines are available in the form of injections:
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs or NSAIDs).
- Steroid hormones.
- Muscle relaxants.
- Vitamins.
NSAIDs
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are a large and very popular group of drugs among doctors of various specialties. NSAIDs are widely used in the following medical fields:
- rheumatology;
- traumatology
- orthopedics;
- therapy.
The most common indications for their appointment are:
- osteochondrosis;
- intervertebral protrusions and hernias;
- intercostal neuralgia;
- various radiculopathies;
- bruises and sprains.
Steroid hormones
Steroid hormones are a special class of drugs. They have a pronounced anti-inflammatory effect. But there are many side effects of these drugs.
Hormonal injections are used for back pain with hernia, rheumatoid arthritis and Bechterew's disease, radiculopathy. The main indications for their appointment are:
- Intense pain syndrome.
- A strong inflammatory process, especially of autoimmune and allergic origin.
- The need for a stable analgesic effect.
Hormones can be produced in tablets, but for pain in the spine, back, joints, intramuscular and intravenous injections are prescribed. This allows you to quickly reduce pain and stop inflammation.
Steroid hormones can be prescribed together with NSAIDs, but this combination requires careful monitoring of the patient's health.
Muscle relaxants
Muscle relaxants in the treatment of back pain have begun to be used relatively recently. However, thanks to their high efficiency, they have firmly established themselves in the prescription lists of doctors for dystrophic and degenerative diseases of the musculoskeletal system.
The mechanism of action of muscle relaxants is radically different from that of NSAIDs. They do not in any way affect the inflammatory process, do not eliminate pathological edema and pain associated with it.
These medicines, as the name suggests, relax the muscles. The mechanism of back pain is quite complex. It distinguishes not only the neuropathic component associated with the violation of the nerve roots. Of great practical importance is muscle spasm, which occurs as a reflex response to degenerative processes in the spine and joints. It is not only accompanied by severe pain per se, but also exacerbates inflammation in the lesion.
That is why the appointment of muscle relaxants together with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs allows you to stop the pain syndrome in a shorter time. What injections that relax the muscles are usually prescribed by doctors?
vitamins
By themselves, vitamin preparations are not pain relievers. However, therapists and neuropathologists almost always prescribe them for back pain. What are the reasons for these recommendations?
The fact is that pain in the chest or behind - between the shoulder blades and in the lower back - with degenerative lesions is always associated with the involvement of nerve roots in the process. It is their violation that leads to the appearance of unpleasant symptoms. However, the compression of nerve fibers is fraught not only with pain, but their sheath also suffers from it. As the process progresses, the nerves themselves are destroyed and the manifestations of radiculopathies intensify.
B vitamins have reparative properties with respect to nerve fibers.
Group B
Vitamins from this group are available in the form of tablets, dragees and injections. In the acute period, neuropathologists usually prescribe injections according to the established scheme - as a rule, for a period of 10 days, and in the future they recommend switching to oral forms. They should be taken within a month.
Previously, such vitamins existed in three separate injections: B1, B6, B12. Considering that each injection is painful in itself, the administration of such a cocktail caused a lot of suffering to the patient.
However, today pharmacies offer a large selection of combination preparations, one ampoule of which already contains all the necessary B vitamins.
B vitamins are today an essential component of the therapeutic regimen established for various radiculos and neuropathies. That's why these injections are always on the prescription list for acute back pain along with NSAIDs and muscle relaxants.
Gels and ointments
Although the injection of anesthetic works quickly and effectively relieves discomfort, many patients prefer topical forms of medication. These include gels, creams and ointments.
These products do not require special skills for use - even a child can apply the gel to the affected area. In addition, topical forms are safer, because the active ingredient is practically not absorbed through the skin. This means that the risk of systemic side effects of the drug is minimized.
This is especially true of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which have an impressive list of toxic effects.
Ointments, gels and creams often help with back pain when dealing with mild forms of the disease. They are also preferred in the following situations:
- In children and the elderly.
- With bruises and sprains of the ligament apparatus.
- With concomitant pathology - diseases of the blood coagulation system, gastrointestinal tract, with bleeding hemorrhoids.
The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory ointments and gels rarely leads to the development of complications, even with their uncontrolled application. This is often the sin of elderly patients with chronic pain and severe forgetfulness. In this case, the safest anti-inflammatory drugs become the preferred drugs.
Tablets, capsules, powders
Tablets and capsules are a great alternative to injections for back pain. The drug name can be the same or different.
Most non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are available in both oral and injectable form. In addition, there are a huge number of medicinal analogues. That is why you should not replace the drug yourself if it suddenly turned out to be ineffective, because there is always the option to buy a medicine with the same active ingredient, but in the form of injections or under a different name.
Tablets are the most common oral form of anti-inflammatory drugs. Almost all non-steroidal drugs are available, even in tablet form. They are easy to use, divide and dose. The tablets are suitable for patients of any age group, with the exception of children under the age of 4-6, who can choke with them.
Oral forms of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are preferred for the treatment of diseases of the spine, as they are much more convenient to use.
Additionally, some medications are sometimes as powerful as injections.
Rectal suppositories
Rectal suppositories with an anti-inflammatory drug in the composition are widely represented in any pharmacy. They serve as an alternative to both oral forms and injections used for back pain.
This form of release provides faster achievement of an analgesic effect than tablets and capsules. This is due to the accelerated absorption of the analgesic substance in the rectum. But, at the same time, their action develops more slowly than with intramuscular and intravenous injections. Although the portability of rectal suppositories is much better.
Doctors, as a rule, prescribe this form for mild and moderate forms of damage to the spine, after surgery, in order to achieve an anesthetic effect.
Due to the nature of the application, rectal suppositories are not suitable for all patients, however, they continue to be a safe, effective and popular remedy for pain.
The choice of the form of the drug for back pain syndrome is the prerogative of the doctor. It is he who decides the matter in favor of injections or tablets, gels or suppositories, depending on the patient's specific disease and comorbidities. Most often, therapy is carried out according to a certain scheme - injections in the first days of the disease to relieve acute pain, and pills or other forms - in the healing phase.