Chronic pain typically lasts 2-3 months or longer and is caused by a more serious affliction or disease. This type of pain is normally caused by a longer-term issue that cannot be as easily treated. Having chronic back pain can affect the rest of your life both physically and mentally. It is important to obtain a diagnosis and create a treatment plan with your doctor.
How Can Chronic Back Pain Affect the Rest of Your Life?
When dealing with back injuries, it is important to remember how fragile the spine is. The spine is home to a number of bodily functions, most importantly the majority of your nervous system. The nervous system deals with neurotransmitters that send neurons from your brain to the rest of your body that signal you to wake up, read, and even breathe. When this part of your body is injured it could be detrimental to your nervous system. Which could further cause an issue in simple daily functions. Most future health problems that arise due to chronic back pain are caused by the deterioration of the nervous system.
Some health issues that could arise due to chronic back pain include:
- Arthritis
- Muscle pain in other parts of the body
- Depression
Arthritis:
Arthritis occurs when joints in the body are inflamed due to the repetitive use of the same muscle. Many elderly people experience arthritis in their wrists after years of writing, typing, or playing an instrument. Arthritis is common in elderly people, but when younger people develop arthritis, it is important to look for a cause for this unusual diagnosis. Untreated chronic back pain can lead to the deterioration of certain nerves in the spine that could affect future mobility in the wrist or ankle, potentially causing arthritis.
Muscle Pain:
Having a serious back injury can affect the rest of your body’s mobility. An untreated back injury could cause pressure to build on your nerves creating muscle spasms and shooting pains in your limbs. The overuse of particular muscles in the back will cause stress to the nerves in your spine. Even though you believe your injury is contained to your back, your nerves or muscles could rupture causing immense pain in completely different sectors of the body.
Depression:
Though depression is more of a mental issue, physical injuries can cause an individual to enter a depressive state. Constantly living in pain and growing immobile can really take a toll on someone’s mental health. They will slowly grow more reclusive as their conditions worsen. Being uncomfortable for long periods of time will easily cause a deterioration in someone’s positivity. It is important to remember that as you feel better physically, you will probably feel better mentally.
How Do You Treat Chronic Back Pain?
Because chronic back pain is normally traced to a particular disease, conservative treatments like physical therapy and anti-inflammatory medications will likely not be successful in minimizing pain. Chronic pain requires more aggressive procedures like surgery to offer pain relief. Though back surgery is seemingly scary, there are normally very few complications during the recovery period, and, most of the time, surgery will alleviate the issue.
If you are experiencing chronic back pain schedule a consultation with Axis Spine Clinic. We will find the treatment plan that will offer the best pain relief for your condition.