Abano.it - Back Pain: Why and how to treat it

Back pain afflicts almost half of the Occidental population between the age of 25 and 50, which represents not only a health problem but also a social and economic plague. Why do we suffer from it and, above all, how can we treat it without the use and mistreatments of medicine?

The back pain is most of the time localized. It occurs more often in the neck and shoulders areas (cervical pain) or in the low vertebral column, meaning the dorso-lumbar and lumbar region (back-lumbago or lumbago).
While cervical pain is perceived as a sense of tension in the neck or in the shoulders, the pain caused by lumbago is experienced in the lumbar area of the column, and also on the back, the gluteal muscles, and the legs.

The reaction of the people who suffer from this is directly proportional to the intensity of the perceived pain.
People who suffer from sharp pains tend to limit their movements in order to avoid any additional discomfort; people who suffer from “deaf ” pain, which means less sharp but continuous pain, tend to rigidify or use wrong posture but, in this way, they will cause additional long term pain.

	the prolonged maintenance of a wrong posture, due to bad habits or necessity;
	degenerative lesions of vertebral articulations (osteoarthritis), which affect ligaments, intervertebral discs and vertebral musculature;
	wrong postures, often asymmetric, which can affect articulations, ligaments and muscle structure and function;
	the contraction of vertebral muscular groups may also be the cause of the increase and persistence of the disease;
	the weariness of non-trained muscles can be the cause of additional pain;
	the excess of weight can contribute to increase the problem, especially in the lumbar area.

The pain represents only a symptom of a pathologic condition that can affect different areas
It is fundamental then to prevent. The generic prevention process has its maximum effect together with physical activity and focused exercise. In contrast, the focused prevention is enacted in every-day life: paying attention to the posture, especially habitually wrong ones, in order to correct them. For this treatment, one avoids those movements which dangerously incite discs, ligaments and muscles.

Modern tendency for the treatment of back pain underline the efficacy of movement. It holds off from using previous methods of forced bed rest, which doctors would often advise for patients in order to decrease the level of pain. This method, in fact, would often make the symptomatology become chronic and, thing we shouldn’t ignore, would contribute to make the patient feel depressed.

The thermal water is a valid ally for the exercise program against back pain. The exercises done in the water, in fact, allow for some specific actions:

	the resolution of any potential pain that limits the functionality of the concerning suffering areas
	the reduction of the load on the column
	the modification of prefixed movements, which allows a better re-elaboration of the movement method
	the increase of our own body perception and of muscles functionality

	little circular pelvic movements
	backward and forward movements
	lateral movements
	reinforcement exercises in water for abdominal muscles
	reinforcement exercises in water for back muscles

In a second moment, the exercises have to be done out of the water, always with the support of a personal trainer or a physiotherapist. This should be done in order to sensitize and strengthen the concerning musculature, calibrating it on normal gravity conditions and on the load of the vertebral column.