Osteoporosis Related Back Pain- Treatment Options to Ease Your Pain
Rarely does someone who has osteoporosis know that they have it until their doctor finds it, or they break a bone. It doesn’t usually cause one to experience pain, and no symptoms really present until the damage has already been done. Slowly, over time, osteoporosis will wear away at the spine and surrounding discs, eventually causing minute fractures to form, and this is where the back pain begins. The good news is that there are treatments that your doctor can use to help lessen or alleviate your pain, just talk to him when you are there again, and let him know that pain is becoming an issue for you.
Hopefully, if you go to the doctor regularly, as we all should do, then your osteoporosis will be found and a treatment program began before it gets to this point. If caught early, and treatment is began, you may never feel the back pain that so many osteoporosis sufferers have to deal with. Women are much more likely to develop osteoporosis than men, and even more so as you get older.
As far as dealing with your osteoporosis related back pain, there are several options available to you, and if they don’t provide you with the relief you are looking for, then you may need surgery to correct the problem. Many of the normal treatments for back pain can be used, alternating heat and cold, in the form of heating pads, heat patches, hot water bottles, ice packs, ice patches, soaking in a warm tub, etc. In some cases, deep tissue massage may also help relieve or lessen pain. If you are a fan of alternative medicine, then you may also want to consider acupuncture, or even chiropractic care. You may even want to combine several treatments, to get the best results.
Doctors are reluctant to prescribe prescription pain medications due to the fact that they can be so addictive. That may however prescribe you an anti-inflammatory medication, which will help reduce swelling and inflammation, lessening your pain quite a bit. Just like any prescription medication, these come with their own lists of side effects, the most common being gastrointestinal problems, such as stomach ulcers or reflux.
In some cases, steroids can also help relieve your osteoporosis related back pain, but you can only take them for limited periods of time, due to the side effects they cause. If taken for too long, steroids can actually weaken the bones, which won’t help your situation in the least.
You may try wearing a back support brace or belt, which can help support a weak lumbar, often lessening pain somewhat. A lot people who suffer from back pain find relief in this manner, so that they are able to go on with their daily tasks as normal.
