What symptoms indicate a back sprain?

In daily life, if you are not careful when lifting heavy objects, you may easily sprain your waist. The waist is a critical part of the human body. If you sprain your waist, it will have a great impact on your normal life. The general symptoms of a sprained waist are pain on both sides of the waist. It will also easily lead to restricted activities and affect normal turning over. It requires timely treatment and you should pay more attention to your health.

What are the symptoms of a sprained waist?

1. There is a history of lumbar sprain, which is more common in young and middle-aged people.

2. Severe pain on one or both sides of the waist, limited movement, inability to turn over, sit or walk, and often maintaining a certain forced posture to reduce pain.

3. Spasms of the lumbar and gluteal muscles, or the palpation of a cord-like hard object, obvious tenderness at the site of injury, and changes in the physiological curvature of the spine.

4. You will feel back pain immediately after the trauma and cannot continue to exert force. The pain is continuous and worsens during activities. It cannot be eliminated even after rest. Coughing, talking loudly, exerting force on the abdomen, etc. can increase the pain. Sometimes there is a popping sound or a sudden breaking sensation in the lower back when the injury occurs.

5. Waist stiffness, difficulty in active movement, difficulty in turning over, tension in the sacrospinal muscles or gluteus maximus, causing scoliosis.

6. There are tender points at the site of injury, in the sacrospinal muscles on both sides of the spinous process, in the transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae on both sides, or behind the iliac spine. Most of them are muscle or fascia injuries. Tenderness deeper on both sides of the spinous process is mostly caused by injury to the intervertebral facet joints. If there is tenderness in the sacroiliac joint, it is usually due to sacroiliac joint injury.

7. Generally there is no radiating pain in the lower limbs. Some patients have referred pain in the lower limbs. The straight leg raising test is positive, but the enhanced test is negative. When identification is difficult, local pain points can be blocked with procaine. If the pain point is alleviated or disappears, it is referred pain. If the leg pain does not change, it is nerve root radiating pain.

Why does a sprained waist occur?

First, many people are busy and stressed at work, and they work against the clock. Even when their nose itches or they want to sneeze, they are unwilling to follow their natural physiological reactions and change their posture to "cooperate" with the protection of their lumbar spine. Second, modern people's lives are becoming more and more comfortable. They sit on the sofa or sleep on soft beds when they go home and drive when they go out. In addition, they need to sit for a long time at work and lack the necessary physical exercise. Over time, this will lead to poor strength of the deep waist muscles and a gradual decline in the function of protecting the lumbar spine. At this point, a small action like sneezing can easily cause problems. Third, for middle-aged and elderly people, changes in the nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral disc may cause lumbar disc herniation. The nucleus pulposus is located above and below the intervertebral disc. It is composed of 75% to 90% water and has expandability and elasticity. In the elderly, the water content of the nucleus pulposus will drop below 70%, and functions such as balance and buffering will decline. Under the action of sudden external force, the nucleus pulposus is prone to protrusion, compressing and irritating the nerves.

The correct way to deal with a back sprain

1. The first thing to do is to lie down and have a rest. It is best to sleep on a hard bed. If there is no hard bed, you might as well sleep on the floor temporarily. Do not sleep on a spring bed, because the soft spring bed will cause scoliosis of the spine and aggravate lumbar disease. At the same time, when lying down, keep your waist flat, put a pillow under your knees, curl up your legs and lie flat on the bed. Avoid straightening your legs, as this posture will not only increase pain, but may also cause numbness of the feet.

2. In addition to applying external ointments or pain-relieving ointments after a sprained waist, some simple treatments are also very effective. For example, blowing the affected area with a hair dryer, or shining a desk lamp at the affected area at close range, can quickly relieve the pain. Wrap heated salt or sand in a cloth bag and apply it to the sprained area for half an hour, once in the morning and once in the evening. This is also very effective, but be careful not to burn the skin.

3. If you have fresh ginger at home, you can heat the ginger slices and stick them on the sprained area, which also has the effect of relieving pain and healing. Alternatively, massage by family members can also relieve symptoms of lumbar sprain. The patient lies prone on the bed, and family members place their palms on both sides of his spine, rubbing and pressing from top to bottom, massaging down to the buttocks to the muscles under the thighs and behind the calves. After massaging several times, use the thumbs to push and rub the most painful area several times.

4. A minor lumbar sprain will heal on its own by resting for a day or two, but if the pain persists or becomes more severe, seek medical attention as soon as possible.

How to relieve pain after a back sprain.