Back pain is a very common symptom at any age. It often indicates the defeat of various systems - musculoskeletal, respiratory, digestive. When your back hurts, don't treat yourself. Only a doctor can quickly determine the cause and tactics of treatment.
Back pain
Back pain is very different. It can be associated with eating or coughing, 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 physician to correctly make a differential diagnosis.
Much more often, back pain is a sign of damage to the musculoskeletal system. It occurs in the following diseases:
- Osteochondrosis (thoracic, lumbar or common).
- Scoliosis.
- Protrusion.
- Intervertebral hernia.
- spinal stenosis.
By themselves, these degenerative diseases are rarely manifested by pain. However, as the pathology 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 - tingling, 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 eliminate them, doctors resort to prescribing ointments, pills and painkillers.
Treatment
Injections against back and lower back pain are a very effective method of treatment. They are often treated with pain syndrome, especially if the patient's discomfort is severe.
Sometimes, in addition to injections, other forms of anti-inflammatory drugs are used:
- Gels and ointments.
- Tablets, capsules, powders.
- Rectal suppositories.
Very 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 do not tolerate injections for fear of pain, and just looking at a sharp needle can cause panic. Others, on the contrary, are distrustful of local forms, considering them insufficiently efficient.
However, more frequent injections for lower back or chest pain are the most popular and best-selling medications.
Injections
Anesthetic injections 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-lasting, stable effect.
Some anti-inflammatory injections are prescribed after surgery as a painkiller. The following medications are available as injections:
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs or NSAIDs).
- Steroid hormones.
- Muscle relaxants.
- Vitamins.
NSAIL
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are an extensive and very popular group of drugs among physicians 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;
- protrusions and intervertebral 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.
Hormone injections are used for back pain in hernia, rheumatoid arthritis and Bechterew's disease, radiculopathy. The main indications for their appointment are:
- Intense pain syndrome.
- Strong inflammatory process, especially of autoimmune and allergic origin.
- The need for a stable analgesic effect.
Hormones can be produced in tablets, but intramuscular and intravenous injections are prescribed for pain in the spine, back and joints. 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 have been used relatively recently in the treatment of back pain. However, due to their high efficiency, they are firmly established on the list of doctors for dystrophic and degenerative diseases of the musculoskeletal system.
The mechanism of action of muscle relaxants is radically different from nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. They in no way affect the inflammatory process, do not eliminate pathological edema and pain associated with it.
These drugs, as their name suggests, relax the muscles. The mechanism of back pain is quite complex. It does not only distinguish the neuropathic component associated with nerve root damage. 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, but also worsens the inflammation in the lesion.
Therefore, naming muscle relaxants along with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs allows you to stop the pain syndrome in a shorter time. What muscle relaxant injections are usually prescribed by doctors?
vitamins
Vitamin preparations alone are not painkillers. 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 back - between the shoulder blades and in the lower back - with degenerative lesions is always associated with the involvement of nerve roots in the process. Their violation leads to the appearance of unpleasant symptoms. However, the compression of nerve fibers is full not only of pain, but also of their envelope. As the process progresses, the nerves themselves are destroyed, and the manifestations of radiculopathy intensify.
B vitamins have reparative properties in relation to nerve fibers.
Group B
Vitamins of 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 - usually for 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. Since each injection is painful in itself, giving such a cocktail caused the patient a lot of suffering.
However, today, pharmacies offer a huge selection of combined preparations, one ampoule of which already contains all the necessary B vitamins.
Today, B vitamins are an essential component of the established treatment regimen for various radiculo- and neuropathies. That is why these injections are always on the list of recipes for acute back pain with NSAIDs and muscle relaxants.
Gels and ointments
Although anesthetic injections work quickly and effectively relieve discomfort, many patients prefer topical medications. These include gels, creams and ointments.
These products do not require special skills to use - even a child can apply the gel to the affected area. In addition, local forms are safer, because the active substance 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 for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which have an impressive list of toxic effects.
Ointments, gels and creams often help with back pain when it comes to milder forms of the disease. They are also desirable in the following situations:
- In children and elderly patients.
- With bruises and sprains of the ligament apparatus.
- With accompanying pathology - diseases of the blood clotting system, gastrointestinal tract, with bleeding hemorrhoids.
The use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory ointments and gels rarely leads to the development of complications, even with their uncontrolled use. It is often the sin of elderly patients with chronic pain and severe forgetfulness. In this case, the safest anti-inflammatory drugs become the drugs of choice.
Tablets, capsules, powders
Tablets and capsules are a great alternative to back pain injections. The name of the drug can be the same or different.
Most nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are available in oral and injectable forms. In addition, there are a huge number of medical analogues. Therefore, you should not replace the drug yourself if it suddenly turns out to be ineffective, because there is always a chance to buy a drug 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 drug. Almost any non-steroidal drug is available, including in tablet form. They are easy to use, share and dose. The tablets are suitable for patients of any age group, except for children younger than 4-6 years, who can suffocate with them.
Oral forms of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are preferred for the treatment of spinal diseases because they are much more practical to use.
In addition, some medications are sometimes as powerful as injections.
Rectal suppositories
Rectal suppositories with anti-inflammatory drug in the composition are widely used in any pharmacy. They also serve as an alternative to oral forms and injections used for back pain.
This form of release enables faster achievement of the analgesic effect than tablets and capsules. This is due to the accelerated absorption of 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 spinal damage, after the operation, in order to achieve an anesthetic effect.
Due to the nature of the application, rectal suppositories are not suitable for all patients, but they still remain a safe, effective and popular remedy for pain.
The choice of medication for back pain syndrome is the prerogative of the physician. It is he who decides on the issue in favor of injections or tablets, gels or suppositories - depending on the specific disease of the patient and concomitant diseases. Most often, the therapy is carried out according to a certain scheme - injections in the first days of the disease to relieve acute pain and tablets or other forms - in the recovery phase.