If the joint crunches, then old age has come?
Back and spine pain is one of the most common reasons for going to the doctor (I can’t sit for a long time, I can’t exercise, I can’t turn around, etc.). According to a study examining what reduces the quality of life of patients in Russia, pain in the lower back ranked first, and pain in the cervical spine ranked fourth. We have collected relevant (and somewhat naive) questions on this topic and asked them to the candidate of medical sciences, neurologist Ekaterina Filatova.
1. Is it true that women suffer from pain more often than men?
In fact, it depends on who is suffering the pain syndrome and how. Men tolerate pain much worse than women. The weaker sex can endure for a long, long, long time and will come to the doctor when it becomes completely impossible to endure the pain. In addition, the emotional state also affects, since the pain syndrome is closely related to it. If a person is anxious, depressed, then his pain syndrome is more pronounced, it is stronger. And as we ourselves understand, our women are more emotional.
2. A person has a backache. He thinks: now I will lie down for a while, but tomorrow everything will pass and run … Is that correct?
More often than not, yes, that’s okay. But if we are talking about lower back pain, there are many pitfalls. Because back pain can be not only neurological, but also occur, for example, as a result of damage to internal organs. And here it will not always help to “lie down”. Yes, rest is needed, but … We have heard talk before that after an acute disturbance of cerebral circulation, after an exacerbation of a hernia or pain syndrome, one should be at rest. In no case! Rehabilitation begins almost the next day. The patient must be forced to move, because blood circulation improves, because the muscles do not have time to forget the load – recovery is faster. You need to move, your activity should not suffer. Of course, if some exercises increase the pain, then it is better to refuse them at this moment.
3. Most often in the morning there is a state when there is no pain, but you wake up and feel that your fingertips are numb. Is this an alarming symptom?
This is not a problem, it happens a lot. Everything is simple here – they changed the position of the body, and everything went away. The reasons, most likely, lie in the wrong pillow, sedentary lifestyle. Normal muscle spasm leads to this numbness. If it goes away when we change the position of the body, then there is no reason to run to a neurologist or therapist. But this is the first sign that you need to do physical education, because the load not only helps to strengthen the muscles, but also improves blood circulation, joints, and helps the production of the hormone of happiness serotonin.
If a person wakes up and feels a sharp pain, cannot move, raise a limb, one should immediately go to a doctor. Because, most likely, this is a herniated disc, this makes the root know about itself. There is no need to wait here. An exacerbation can lead to different outcomes, including surgery.
With fever, temperature, severe pain syndrome, you must also see a therapist. He will understand the localization of pain and will direct the person himself to the right specialist – a neurologist, gastroenterologist, urologist, etc.
4. I have neck pain. During the examination, the doctor wanted to prescribe an X-ray for me, but I also insisted on an MRI – for greater confidence, besides, I have insurance. Or am I not right?
Of course, we have the opinion that the more expensive the better. But this is not true. When a person has a pain syndrome, and we see that this is a local muscle spasm, this is an indication for an X-ray. What does the x-ray show? The spine itself. That is, he makes it clear whether there is rotation of the vertebrae, whether there is scoliosis or lordosis, how pronounced they are. It helps in diagnosing muscle spasm. But when a person has pain syndrome with sensitive disturbances of a certain zone or a pronounced headache that does not stop, increasing, this is already an indication for neuroimaging, for MRI or CT. When we want to see if the root is affected, if there is a herniated disc, it is always an MRI. X-rays are often more informative than magnetic resonance imaging.
5. My lower back grabbed. A neighbor advised a friend of a masseur, he once helped her to relieve pain. But the usual analgesic helped faster. I would like to clarify for the future – can a massage course help?
In fact, massage can greatly aggravate the history and worsen health. Each appointment should have its own 100% justification, and not “because the neighbor helped.” Therefore, before sending a person to a masseur or chiropractor, the doctor looks at the pictures – is there any displacement, at what level, in which direction is the rotation of the vertebrae going.
Non-drug treatment (massage, acupuncture, physiotherapy) usually begins with a second visit to the doctor. The first one is complaints, follow-up examination, if necessary, therapy. And after 3-5 days, repeated admission. Then it is already clear what effect the drugs have had and the need to prescribe additional non-drug therapy is assessed. But there are pitfalls here. If a woman has problems with the thyroid gland, uterine fibroids, formation in the mammary gland, we cannot just send her to a masseur. Before the appointment, you need to visit a gynecologist, mammologist and urologist, for men – a urologist and endocrinologist. Because if there is any formation (cyst, node), massage can provoke its increase. After all, massage is not only improved blood flow, but also improved lymph flow. And through the lymph in the body, all this muck moves.
Manual therapy has its own specific indications. Only muscle pain syndrome is not. If we see a block, a decrease in the height of the vertebrae, rotation – these are indications. But if we cannot send a person for a massage and to a chiropractor, there is a third salvation – acupuncture in combination with muscle relaxants, with the same midocalm.
6. If joints crunch – is it bad, am I old?
Exercise can actually cause joints to crunch. If it is not accompanied by pain, this is not a pathology. We can all crunch in different places, especially in the morning. If a pain syndrome appears in the joint that cracked, this is already a reason to consult a doctor.
7. When treating chronic pain, a doctor prescribed antidepressants, but I don’t want to take them, I don’t have depression.
The doctor did the right thing. Don’t think that the doctor is bad and you are crazy. We have antidepressants, the first indication for which is chronic pain syndrome. Any pain depends on our emotional state. We feel bad – I am lying down, we feel bad – it hurts more, etc. Tachycardia joins, twists the stomach, hands sweat. Therefore, when the pain has become chronic, only antidepressants will help. Because at the cellular level, they block the transmission of the pain impulse. 15 out of 7 people leave my appointment for sure with antidepressants. Do not be afraid to take them, now all over the world any pain is treated with them.
8. An acquaintance in her youth was engaged on a trampoline. Now she has severe back pain. And the friends with whom we studied have the same problems. What to do?
Any athlete becomes a hostage to his situation. From the absence of the usual load, the muscles begin to give pain. So the first thing a doctor does is send the person back to the gym. Let the training be not in the same amount as before, but they must be present. In addition, in this case, after long training with jumps, it is necessary to figure out what kind of pain a person is experiencing. Sometimes there is a combination, just a temporary coincidence, and the cause of the pain syndrome is completely different.