Back Pain

Back pain is pain felt in the back that may come from the muscles, nerves, bones, joints or other structures in the spine. The pain may be constant or intermittent, stay in one place or refer or radiate to other areas. It may be a dull ache, or a sharp or piercing or burning sensation. The pain may be felt in the neck, in the upper back, or in the low back, and may include symptoms other than pain, such as weakness, numbness or tingling.

Back pain is one of humanity's most frequent complaints. In the U.S., acute low back pain is the fifth most common reason for all physician visits. About nine out of ten adults experience back pain at some point in their life, and five out of ten working adults have back pain every year.

The spine is a complex interconnecting network of nerves, joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments, and all are capable of producing pain. Large nerves that originate in the spine and go to the legs and arms can make pain radiate to the extremities.

In general, however, back pain does not usually require immediate medical intervention. The vast majority of episodes of back pain are self-limiting and non-progressive. Most back pain syndromes are due to inflammation, especially in the acute phase, which typically lasts for two weeks to three months.

...More at Wikipedia

Related Links:

• BackCare
• US National Library of Medicine
• Mayo Clinic

Recent Hope Cube Blog Entries For Back Pain

• Ouch Wed, January 23, 2008 - [view]
  Its actually in  my neck, really hurts. cant move it, know anything I can do other than pills? ;__;
• My new best friend Sun, October 07, 2007 - [view]
  So I decided to get out yesterday and run some errands. Since my back/hip/leg pain started in May, I don't get out very often, but you can only do so much online and sometimes Wal-Mart just screams my name. Bad bad bad decision. I was barely gone 3 hours. I thought the ibuprofen would hold out but no such luck. Thank goodness I have my new best friend. It's a TENS unit but I call it my 'lectricity box. I just slap on the electrodes, plug it in, crank it up, and .... whew! I've been using it on and off all day and have no idea how I would have managed without it. I've read how it supposedly works and I don't really care. I just know that it helps. I used to look forward to the brief sessions in physical therapy and finally I got to have my own little portable un...