admin | April 14, 2015 | Health |
Lower-back pain is one of the most common health problems of our time, and it is estimated that 80% of the population during their life time has had lower-back or lumbar pain, as well as pain in the lower part of the spine. Thus,lower-back pain has become a major public health problem because it’s the most common cause of absence from work and the large number of sick days.
There are many names spread among people for this kind of pain. Ranging from “lumbago” to “hexenschus” (the witch sting).
What Is It?
The spine is an anatomically complicated set of vertebrae (of which 7 cervical, 12 thoracic and 5 lumbar), cartilages among the spine coils that allow the mobility of the vertebrae, and it’s associated with a number of muscles, nerves, blood vessels and ligaments, forming a main bearing assembly to the body. It allows us the upright posture we have.The vertebrae are arranged in a tube shaped shielding canal in which the spinal cord and the nerve roots for hands and feet are located.
Therefore, because of its multiple functions, the spine is exposed to constant mechanical effects of load (pressure, tension, shear, bending, twisting, twisting), which may lead to overuse.
Some parts of the spine (cervical, thoracic and lumbar) have a different scope of mobility. For example, the neck is extremely mobile, while the thoracic has very low mobility. Degenerative changes occur at the transitions between the parts of the spine, which are sources of pain. Thus, specifically back pain can occur in breast-lumbar junction, as well as in the in the lumbar part.
Risk Category
These are all people who have hard physical jobs or that spend several hours in adverse postures, mostly sedentary work, older people in which the degenerative process has already begun, people with osteoporosis or a congenital anomaly of the spine, after injuries and operations of the spine.
Treatment And Prevention
The herb comfrey, which grows in meadows, fields and ditches near water, can make life easier for millions of people struggling with back pain, according to scientists. Ointment containing extract of this plant succeeded during a 5 day test period, and fully healed back pain. The scientists studied 120 people with lower and upper back pain.
They gave half of the respondents comfrey fat over a period of five days. They had to use it three times a day, while the others got fake fat. After five days, 39% of the group who received the fake fat said they were feeling better. Researchers explained that this was the desire to feel better.
Around 95% of the people who received the fat however, said they were feeling better. Comfrey acts very quickly, around an hour after application. The research was conducted by scientists at the German Sports University of Bonn, and the results were published in the British Journal of Sports Medina. ‘Root extract of comfrey is incredibly powerful and clinically proven to effectively reduce acute pain’, according to the explanation of the research results.
This plant has roots like beets and large, hairy leaves, and has been used by herbalists for centuries. Previous studies have also shown that comfrey effectively removes other types of pain and was proved to be excellent in the form of a gel for pain and dislocated of joints. Note, you shouldn’t use it in the capsulated form, because it may be toxic to your liver.