A lumbar strain is basically back pain that could be caused by muscles, nerves, bones, or joints. Get tips and advice on health and medical issues in this wellness video.
DR. ALEX VALADKA: Today, we're here to talk about lumbar strain. Now, strain and sprain are terms that are used interchangeably. And if you want to get technical, strain refers to overstretching or even tearing of the muscle fibers; whereas, sprain refers to the ligaments perhaps prying off a little bit from the bone. Everyone has heard of a sprain ankle, and that's what happens in that case. But in point of fact, they both cause very similar symptoms and the treatment is the same. The most common cause of a lumbar strain is we basically do too much too quickly. We do not warm up enough or we try to push ourselves. And of course, this is a problem that worsens as we get older. Kids simply will be able do whatever they want. But the more we age, the more we need to take care, to warm up and stretch before we do anything serious. The symptoms are generally sharp, severe pain in your lower back that may go down to your upper buttocks. And generally, it gets worse when we try to do something. You may even want to take a day or two of bed rest if you have to, because believe it or not, this is the second most common cause of lost of work, second only to the common cold. However, you shouldn't have to lay in bed more than a day or two even the most severe cases. If the pain still persists, you can try some medications like Motrin or ibuprofen, aspirin. Those are all very good. People always wanted to try either heat or ice. One rule of thumb is that for the first day or two, cool treatments or ice may be helpful to try to prevent some of the swelling and inflammation; after that point, heat may help to mobilize some of the fluid and loosen up some of the muscles. In general, about 90% of the time, people are good to go back to work within a very short amount of time. But very, very rarely, low back pain may be a sign of something more serious. So if the pain is especially severe and getting worse all the time, if you lose control of your bowel or bladder, if you have severe pain or weakness shooting down your leg, that may be a sign that something more serious is going on and you should seek help. Fortunately, those are all pretty unusual. In most cases, a lumbar strain tend to get better on their own.
