Back pain is a very common symptom at any age. This often indicates the defeat of various systems - musculoskeletal, respiratory, digestive. When your back hurts, do not self-medicate. 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 complaints that allow the doctor to make a correct differential diagnosis.
Much more often, back pain is a sign of damage to the musculoskeletal system. Occurs in such diseases:
- Osteochondrosis (thoracic, lumbar or common).
- scoliosis.
- Protrusion.
- Intervertebral hernia.
- spinal stenosis.
By themselves, these degenerative diseases rarely occur with 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 - burning, tingling, numbness.
- Motor disorders.
Back pain can be chronic or acute. As a rule, in diseases of the musculoskeletal system there is a clear link between discomfort and physical activity, movement or breathing. To eliminate them, doctors resort to prescribing ointments, tablets and painkillers.
Treatment
Injections for back and lower back pain are a highly effective method of treatment. It is often with them that the therapy of the pain syndrome begins, especially if the patient's discomfort is very pronounced.
Sometimes other forms of anti-inflammatory drugs are used in addition to injections:
- Gels and ointments.
- Tablets, capsules, powders.
- Rectal suppositories.
Very often the same drug is available in different forms. And the doctor chooses the optimal option for the patient, relieving pain, taking into account its characteristics, tolerability and comorbidities. Some people cannot tolerate injections for fear of pain, and just seeing a sharp needle can cause them to panic. Others, on the other hand, are skeptical of local forms, considering them ineffective.
However, more often injections for lower back or chest pain are the most popular and best-selling drugs.
Injections
Anesthetic injections for back pain are used in moderate and severe diseases of the musculoskeletal system. They are also prescribed when it is necessary to obtain a very fast or long-term, stable effect.
Some anti-inflammatory injections are prescribed after surgery as a painkiller. The following medicines are available as injections:
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs or NSAIDs).
- Steroid hormones.
- Muscle relaxants.
- vitamins.
NSAIDs
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are an extensive and very popular group of drugs among physicians in 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.
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.
- 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 may be prescribed in combination 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 have become firmly established in the lists of prescriptions 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 affect the inflammatory process in any way, do not eliminate the pathological swelling and associated pain.
These drugs, as the name suggests, relax the muscles. The mechanism of back pain is quite complex. It distinguishes not only 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 in itself, but also exacerbates the 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 muscle relaxant injections are usually prescribed by doctors?
vitamins
Vitamin preparations themselves are not painkillers. However, therapists and neurologists 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. 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 also their sheath suffers. As the process progresses, the nerves themselves are destroyed and the manifestations of radiculopathy intensify.
B vitamins have reparative properties with respect to nerve fibers.
Group B
Vitamins from this group are available in the form of tablets, pills and injections. In the acute period, neurologists usually prescribe injections according to the established scheme - usually for a period of 10 days, and in the future recommend switching to oral forms. They must be taken within one month.
Previously, such vitamins existed in three separate injections - B1, B6, B12. Given that each injection is painful in itself, the application of such a cocktail causes a lot of suffering to the patient.
Today, however, 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's why these injections are always on the list of recipes for acute back pain, along with NSAIDs and muscle relaxants.
Gels and ointments
Although anesthetic injection works quickly and effectively relieves 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 on the affected area. In addition, topical forms are safer, as 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 mild forms of the disease. They are also preferred in the following situations:
- In children and elderly patients.
- 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 complications, even with uncontrolled use. This 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 an excellent alternative to injections for back pain. The name of the drug can be one or different.
Most non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are available in both oral and injectable forms. In addition, there are a huge number of medical analogues. Therefore, you should not change the medicine yourself if it suddenly turns out to be ineffective, because there is always a chance to buy a medicine with the same active ingredient, but in the form of injections or under another name.
Tablets are the most common oral form of anti-inflammatory drug. Almost any non-steroidal drug is available, including tablets. They are easy to use, separate and dose. The tablets are suitable for patients of all ages, except children under 4-6 years of age, who may choke.
Oral forms of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are preferred for the treatment of spinal diseases because they are much more convenient to use.
In addition, some drugs are sometimes as powerful as injections.
Rectal suppositories
Rectal suppositories with anti-inflammatory drug in the composition are widely available in every pharmacy. They serve as an alternative to both oral forms and injections used for back pain.
This form of release provides a faster 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 tolerability of rectal suppositories is much better.
Doctors, as a rule, prescribe this form for mild and moderate forms of spinal cord injury after surgery to obtain an anesthetic effect.
Due to the nature of the application, rectal suppositories are not suitable for all patients, but continue to be a safe, effective and popular treatment 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 in favor of injections or tablets, gels or suppositories - depending on the specific disease of the patient and comorbidities. 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 pills or other forms - at the stage of recovery.