Low back pain,can it lead to disability?
By: Staphey Wairimu
Posted on Thursday, July 4, 2019
Low back pain.
Most of our parents complain of back pain as they grow older. Not just any kind of back pain, lower back pain. We, as youths, also tend to have back pains and all we do is take painkillers. This, however, is just relieving pain and not permanently solving the problem.
Joyce Omondi, host to full circle, sat with Dr.Rose Gichia and Gabriel Gitau of Premium rehab centre to discuss the causes, myths and solution to this epidemic predicament.
The spine is divided into three and the lumbar spine which is the lowest, consists of 5 bones which forms the spine. Some of the causes of low back pain can be sitting in the office for long hours, athritis or kidney problems, repetitive injuries such as sitting or bending a lot, internal dysfunctions such as fibroids and prostate cancer. Pregnant women might have lower back pain due to overstretching of the spine and adding weight, also trauma could lead to this pain. ‘’The nerves on your lower back should co-ordinate from hip going down, the legs depend majorly on having sensation from the lower back and if you lose this, it could lead to disability.” Gabriel speaks on lower back pain leading to disability. It can also affect muscle control of the bladder and urinary function.
It is advisable that one visits a specialist in order to know the extent of damage and possible solutions.
The solution.
‘’What is the difference between physiotherapy and chiropractic? ’’ Joyce asks the experts. Dr Rose says that most people take painkillers which only aim to relieve immediate pain and symptoms rather than solve the problem and this could be either through physiotherapy which is a health discipline that focuses on physical treatment or management of conditions that limit a person’s ability to perform normal activities while chiropractic discipline emphasizes the inherent recuperative power of the body to heal itself without use of drugs or surgery. In this they perform tests to show nerves affected then know the way forward.
We are also advised to exercise regularly, especially extensive exercises that do not bend our backs. Observing diet and getting checked.
