How do back injuries happen?
Patients who have suffered back injuries at home, such as falling from a height, slipping on the stairs, working on the farm, etc., turn to sports medicine doctor M. Butvilas. Also during sports, especially when lifting heavy weights, practicing contact or extreme sports. And there is a risk of serious injuries during traffic accidents – when you get into a car accident, fall off a motorcycle, bicycle, scooter or other vehicles.
Spinal trauma can result in a vertebral fracture or fracture with displacement; the spine may become unstable; soft tissues of the back may be affected; be damaged intervertebral discs; stress fractures have occurred. “Near the spine are all nerve structures, nerve roots, spinal cord coverings, which are very sensitive to external factors. As a result, injuries can be more complicated, and healing is more difficult compared to, for example, limb injuries,” says doctor M. Butvila.
Fortunately, less serious injuries occur more often – there are countless ligaments between the vertebrae that can tear or break during an injury, which can cause instability, pain, discomfort, the patient can be “locked”, it can be difficult to perform certain movements. “The spine is the center of the body, when damaged, all the muscles react,” emphasizes M. Butvila, sports medicine doctor, and adds that there is usually a direct relationship between the force transmitted during the impact and the consequences of the injury – the level of pain, the complexity of the damage. Spinal cord injuries are one of the most dangerous. If the damage is also related to the spinal cord, in the lower back, the patient may temporarily or permanently stop walking as a result, the legs may become temporarily numb, they may become weak, difficult to control, and it may also cause faecal or urinary incontinence. If the neck part is contused, the patient may lose control of one or both hands, the vegetative nervous system and internal organs may be affected.
Not just accidents
Although when thinking about injuries, we usually only think about accidents, unexpected situations, they can also occur as a result of everyday movements or habits.
“If the injury happens suddenly, the back has apparently been exposed to a lot of force – a blow, a fall, a heavy load, etc. However, a back injury can occur in less than a day due to long-term dysfunction in the soft tissues, performing monotonous movements, due to long-term microtears or microcracks. In any case, the injury will not disappear in a day, you need to take the time, find what helps you best and become an expert on your back,” says sports medicine doctor M. Butvila.
As the sports medicine doctor said, back injuries can be various, and injuries related to the spine are very complicated and dangerous. In addition, the sensations after a back injury can also be very different in each case.
“For example, with some back injuries, a person will not be able to lean back, and trying to do so will cause great pain. In other cases, it may be difficult to bend forward or, for example, turn to the side, so in order to recover, it is important to take this into account, emphasizes doctor M. Butvila. – When a patient undergoes an X-ray or magnetic resonance examination, sometimes it seems that a very similar lesion has already been seen before, but the consequences can be felt very differently for each person.”
It is worth forgetting the outdated approach
Because of the pain in the injured back, it is scary to even move. I will lie down, take medicine and it will go away? Sports medicine doctor M. Butvila says that depending on the severity of a back injury, you may need to rest for a couple of weeks, but this does not mean that you need to lie down all the time.
“Even now, after a back injury, some doctors may advise you to rest, take painkillers, not to move, not to lift anything heavy, as if aiming to “plaster” the whole body. Of course, in the first days after an injury, rest is necessary, but I would not advise you to lie down, and first of all it is better to contact qualified specialists for an examination and consultation – sports medicine doctors, traumatologists. It is necessary to investigate why there is pain, what kind of damage has occurred and then take the necessary steps,” says M. Butvila and adds to stop following the outdated approach – “with a back injury or hernia, you cannot lift weights heavier than 2.5 kg, bend down to tie your shoes – from hips or raise the leg, do not bend the back, do not perform any irregular movement.”
“Let’s not get caught up in the frame. With a back injury or hernia, we don’t have to move like robots and “write off” ourselves. Life consists of many imperfect, irregular movements. Let’s see how children move: they run, scramble, roll, spin, climb. As adults, we are used to putting ourselves in a frame, especially when something hurts, we have an injury, but this way we limit our own movements and the problem only progresses”, says sports medicine doctor M. Butvila.
After experiencing a back injury, the body’s protective mechanisms become more active: attention is focused on the spine, some muscles contract more in order to stabilize the spine so that the nerve roots around it are not irritated and the likelihood of pain is reduced, says the doctor.
“As a result, in the long run, stiffness of certain muscles occurs, the mobility of movements decreases, certain movements become limited, painful, the amplitude, plasticity, strength of movements decrease, not only that, but also a psychosocial factor appears – there is a fear of movement, because it causes pain.” In the end, it is possible to aim not to move at all, and thus the circle turns: due to the lack of movement, the joints and connective tissue stiffen even more, fear increases, the quality of life deteriorates”, – sports medicine doctor M. Butvila shares his observations.
Movement heals
The doctor emphasizes that there is no one-size-fits-all recipe for recovery, especially when it comes to the spine.
“There are many ways and directions to help your health and back, but until you try something, you won’t know what works best for you. For one patient, it may be enough to do stretching exercises, another may need exercises to increase mobility, others may need to strengthen certain parts of the body,” says M. Butvila.
When we move, we activate the blood circulation, then the connective tissue, joints, ligaments, and muscles warm up, more synovial fluid is released, which lubricates the joints, tissue mobility and tissue mobility increase.
“It sounds very simple, but in general, when it comes to any type of injury, a dosed, consistent progression-based movement is applied under the supervision of specialists,” says the sports medicine expert and reminds that walking is an excellent medicine that heals almost the entire body.
The path to healing a back injury is long, and the spine takes an especially long time to heal, so it will take time and patient work to recover. Doctor M. Butvila emphasizes that movement heals, you just need to find what helps the most. “Don’t ignore the pain, don’t mask it with medication, don’t pretend the problem doesn’t exist. Pay attention to your health, give yourself time to recover, because the treatment of back injuries is not a sprint, but a marathon,” says the interviewer.
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