Diagnosis and Treatment of Low Back Pain

Author: Hu Menglin et al
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-12-01
Features: The book "Diagnosis and Treatment of Low Back Pain" provides a detailed introduction to the causes, symptoms, prevention, and treatment methods of low back pain. These preventive and treatment methods can be implemented under general medical conditions and at home, and as long as the correct operation methods are mastered, good preventive and therapeutic effects can be achieved. Low back pain is a common condition. According to incomplete statistics, 80% of people suffer from varying degrees of low back pain. Some people consider low back pain to be a minor issue and do not pay attention to prevention and treatment. When the pain progresses to a severe stage, the treatment effect is poor, which is both time-consuming and costly. Broad readers should pay sufficient attention to low back pain. This book is divided into eight chapters, with a focus on introducing common types of low back pain, such as acute lumbar soft tissue injuries, such as acute lumbar sprains, supraspinous and interspinous ligament injuries, piriformis syndrome, and intervertebral disc herniation.
Excerpt: Low back pain is a modern civilization disease. As human progress, the number of people suffering from low back pain also increases. Urban life is stressful, mechanization reduces human activity opportunities, and fast food leads to obesity—all of these are reasons why modern people are prone to low back pain.
I. The Origin of Low Back Pain Traditionally, low back pain was considered an aging phenomenon, primarily affecting elderly people. However, with the passage of time, young people and middle-aged individuals are also increasingly suffering from this condition. In modern times, with significant changes in lifestyle and working environments, the number of elderly people suffering from low back pain is not as high as expected, whereas the number of patients in their 20s to 40s has increased. Currently, statistics show that approximately 80% of the world's population has experienced this condition at some point in their lives. Surprisingly, the number of teenagers suffering from low back pain is also on the rise. Even if a person does not suffer from low back pain, fatigue from the waist to the feet is more severe compared to fatigue in other parts of the body, such as the shoulders or arms. This is because the waist bears a significant amount of weight, and the stress placed on the waist can lead to various problems. As the most advanced species on earth, humans evolved from a four-legged crawling posture to a two-legged standing posture. Over the long course of evolution, human brains have become more developed than those of other animals. When humans walk on two legs, they must maintain an upright posture for the back and head. From a biomechanical perspective, this is highly inefficient, similar to a ladder that is about to tip over. To keep it in a neutral position, a balancing force must be applied constantly in both the front and back. For the human body, this requires the continuous effort of back muscles, gluteal muscles, and other muscle groups in the chest and abdomen to maintain an upright posture. When walking on two legs, the body's two major muscle groups—the front and back groups—are automatically adjusted by the brain and cerebellum to maintain this dynamic balance. The resultant force of the two major muscle groups is transmitted downward through the spine, causing the spine, intervertebral discs, and ligaments to bear significant stress. This is the intrinsic reason why the waist is easily injured. With the development of industry, human lifestyles have shifted from standing work to working sitting down all day. Due to the reduced opportunities to extend the hip joints and increased bending, the large gluteal muscles, which are responsible for extending the hip joints, deteriorate rapidly. Not only do the large gluteal muscles deteriorate, but the function of the spine and the muscle groups that support the spine also decline. Therefore, prolonged sitting can lead to a lack of movement, reduced endurance, and increased susceptibility to illness.
II. Understanding the Physiology of the Waist It is well known that the waist refers to the part of the human backbone, specifically the area from the lower part of the spine to the upper part of the pelvic bone, which can be extended. If we compare the spine, which supports the head, arms, and upper body, to the main beam of a building, then the waist, centered around the pelvis, is like the foundation of the building—it must be strong and healthy. Regarding the structure of the waist, let us start with the spine. The bones that form the spine are called vertebrae, commonly referred to as vertebrae. We learned in elementary school that animals with vertebrae are called vertebrates. The human spine is formed by 33 vertebrae linked together (Figure 1-1).