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Common Pain Disorders |
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EXPLANATION of COMMON PAIN DISORDERSLow back pain:Low back pain, low back ache or lumbago is the most common chronic pain in the United States affecting about 60% of the adults during their lifetime. Back pain could be due to involvement of any of the following:
The most common causes of back pain are muscle pain and arthritis pain. The nerve pain is to due to pinched nerve where the sciatic nerve gets pinched by the herniated discs. Diagnosis is done with x-rays, CT scan and MRI scan. Treatment is with analgesics and physiotherapy and chiropractic. Osteoarthritis:Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease in the world. The osteoarthritis joint pain typically worsens with weight bearing and movement and improves with rest. Osteoarthritis is primarily a disease of the cartilages. It is common in the knee joints and is the commonest cause of knee pain. Osteoarthritis is one of the causes of hip pain also. The other joints involved are bases of thumb, neck and lower back. The arthritis pain is both a bone pain and muscle pain. The bone pain is due to the pain in the joints resulting from the destruction of the joint surface of the bone. The muscle pain is due to the spasm of the muscles and other soft tissues around the joint. The pain is usually relieved by arthritis pain medications and physiotherapy. If the arthritis pain medicines are not effective then other forms of treatment are given that include, wax bath, infrared therapy and joint replacement. One of the best pain relief sprays for temporary relief of arthritis pain is CryoDerm analgesic spray Growing pain:Growing pain affects children of 3-5 years and 8-12 years. The pain is usually felt in the calf or shin area, legs and feet and is worsened by cold temperature and humidity. Most often the pain occurs after an active day. A complete examination is necessary in children presenting with these calf, leg and foot pain. If serious illness is ruled out, a reassurance alone is enough as this type of pain is generally self limiting. Fibromyalgia:Fibromyalgia is a poorly understood pain disorder. It affects 2% of the US population. The American College of Rheumatology lists criteria for fibromyalgia which include a history of pain for at least 3 months duration and pain in at least 11 of the 18 fibromyalgia pain points that are tender to touch. Patients without fibromyalgia do not experience pain at these pain points. Persons who are destined to develop fibromyalgia appear to be either genetically predisposed or have had events or experiences that favor its development. One of the causes of fibromyalgia is increased pain sensitivity. These patients often develop sleep problems, irritable bowel syndrome, head ache, fatigue and depression. They have increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system. The fibromyalgia pain medication is based on these findings. Temporomandibular joint syndrome:Temporomandibular disorder(s) (TMD) or temporomandibular joint (TMJ) syndrome is the most common cause of facial pain after toothache. The temporomandibular joint is the joint where the lower jaw is attached to the skull bone. Temporomandibular joint syndrome consists of two types of pain disorders.
The TMJ pain or the jaw pain is felt around the ears and is associated with chewing and click, pop and snap are the sounds heard while experiencing it. There is limited jaw opening which may sometimes get locked. The other symptoms include neck pain, ear pain, head pain, shoulder pain, back pain and dizziness. Shoulder pain:Shoulder pain could be due to involvement of either the shoulder bones and joints or the muscles & soft tissues around it. Most of the cases of shoulder pain are muscle pains due to the involvement of the muscles around the shoulder joint. Most of the shoulder problems fall in to the following three categories.
Frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis is one of the important cause of shoulder pain in which the movements at the shoulder joint is restricted and painful Neck pain:
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