Back Pain Explained - Types of Back Pain

There are a variety of types of pain in back problems. In the Western world about eight out of ten people will injure their back at some point during their lives. Few of these problems will require extended treatment, but back problems are usually painful.

Resolving back pain is not a simple process. The experience of pain is subjective to the individual and cannot be measured from the outside. Health professionals who treat back pain patients often find it challenging to obtain the objective or measurable signs that confirm and diagnose a patient's painful back symptoms. Hence, many back pain problems are simply termed mechanical back pain!

Pain Experiences

Additionally, everyone's experience of pain is different. The types of pain is described in a wide variety of ways with words that include - dull, sharp, throbbing, pulsating, stabbing and shock-like, just to name a few.
People experience and describe pain so differently partly due to its varied and complex origins. In fact, pain originates from numerous places in the body, such as muscles, bones, nerves, organs or blood vessels.

The types of pain is also described as acute or chronic. The word "acute" derives from the Latin word for needles and is usually described as a severe, sharp sensation. The initial stage of an injury is called the acute phase.
The word "chronic", on the other hand, originated from the Greek word for time. Chronic pain is defined as pain that persists after a length of time, often greater than 3 months. Many back injuries tend to become chronic, especially when not treated properly during the acute phase. Chronic pain is often experienced as a dull ache or constant nagging pain in the background.

Acute and chronic pain sensations also travel via different nervous system pathways inside the body. When you injure muscles or ligaments in your back, nerve endings called pain receptors pick up the pain impulses and transmit them to the spinal cord. From here, the pain message run up to the brain. This process takes place at varying rates of speed depending on the size of the nerve fibre involved.

Acute pain signals tends to travel on faster, larger diameter fibres, while chronic pain prefers smaller, slower pain fibres. Experts suggest that chronic pain affects the brain's limbic system, which is associated with emotional states. Anyone who has ever had a long-term painful injury knows that negative or distressing emotions can accompany or perpetuate the initial injury.

Prevention is best!

The best way to treat chronic back pain syndromes is to prevent them in the first place. Although proficient early treatment does not always prevent an acute injury from turning into a chronic problem, it is a good insurance policy. Early treatment is especially important with injuries to the soft tissues (muscles, tendons and ligaments) to prevent them from becoming weaker, less elastic and more pain-sensitive.

Seeing a good health professional such as a physiotherapist or osteopath is one of the best ways to treat both acute and chronic soft tissue injuries. A formal rehabilitation program may also help to strengthen muscles, especially the core stabilizers of the back.

Types of Pain