There is cancer in the body, but the waist knows? If there are 3 characteristics of low back pain, or cancer cells are 'mischief'

The 68-year-old Xu feels that his body is not refreshing after autumn. I wake up every morning with uncomfortable back pain. At first I thought it was caused by poor sleeping posture, but it has lasted for a month and has not been relieved.

He was worried that the lumbar degenerative disease was caused by senile diseases, so he made an appointment with the local orthopedic hospital for consultation.

However, through X-rays, the doctor Xu old man's lumbar spine did not have any problems. Considering the symptoms that the old man described, most of them were severe pain at night, and he had a tendency to wake up from the pain recently, so the doctor suggested that he go to a specialized tumor hospital for examination.

Although the old man Xu was puzzled, he still registered according to the doctor's advice. How did he know that the result of the examination was that the lung cancer was in the advanced stage, and there were signs of bone metastasis . It turned out that old man Xu's frequent low back pain at night was caused by the bone metastasis and erosion of cancer cells.

1. Low back pain is as common as a cold

A review of 165 studies published in The Lancet found that low back pain is the leading cause of lost productivity globally and the leading cause of disability worldwide .

In China, 80% of people have suffered from low back pain, its prevalence rate is second only to colds, and it is most common among people aged 65-69 .

Low back pain refers to pain or discomfort in the area below the costal margin, above the gluteal crease, and between the midaxillary lines on both sides, and may manifest as unilateral or bilateral pain. According to the occurrence time of low back pain, it can be divided into acute low back pain, subacute low back pain and chronic low back pain.

The cause of low back pain is not a single factor. In most cases, low back pain with no clear disease can be found, such as degenerative diseases accompanied by aging, or it may be caused by mental stress , such as white-collar workers who have been sedentary for a long time and have stiff postures. , leading to lumbar disc herniation, which causes low back pain.

In addition, people who often undergo heavy physical work are also more prone to low back pain , and the wrong point of force can cause lumbar muscle strain.

According to global data, men undertake more heavy physical labor and have a higher incidence of low back pain than women.

2. If low back pain has 3 characteristics, be wary of tumor invasion

When many people experience low back pain, they may think it is a muscle strain or a local problem in the waist, but in fact, low back pain may also be a signal of cancer.

Bone metastasis is a relatively common tumor metastasis site, and about 40%-80% of advanced cancer patients have bone metastasis.

When bone metastasis occurs, the bone density decreases, the original bone is eroded, and fusion damage occurs, which is equivalent to a fracture in the human body, and such fractures are mostly concentrated in the waist, and many patients will feel severe pain in the waist .

That is to say, when cancer cells transfer to a certain vertebral body, the vertebral body loses its bearing capacity, and the bone erodes. Even a sneeze, cough, turn over, etc. may cause fractures and cause severe low back pain.

Low back pain caused by tumors often has the following three characteristics:

1. Determine the location

Lumbar pain caused by tumors mostly occurs in the middle of the waist, and then spreads to various parts of the body as the disease progresses, and patients will also be accompanied by inexplicable fatigue and weight loss .

2. Pain time

Malignant tumors are generally very active at night, so pain often occurs in the second half of the night, especially at night .

3. Pain characteristics

The pain caused by the tumor is dull at the beginning . As the disease progresses, it will get worse, especially at night. Pain metastasis caused by cancer will also appear in other parts of the body.

Of course, diseases that cause low back pain and discomfort include kidney stones, thoracolumbar compression fractures, and rheumatic diseases . Therefore, if there is persistent low back pain, it is necessary to go to the hospital for examination in time to clarify the cause.

3. Only plasters will be used for low back pain? 3 ways to try

If you have low back pain, you must first identify the cause, instead of blindly treating it. If you don’t prescribe the right medicine, it will only aggravate the symptoms. When low back pain occurs, what are the ways to relieve pain?

1. Drug treatment

Oral drugs can be used to relieve pain, muscle spasm and nourish nerves, but long-term use of drugs may lead to drug-induced stomach or kidney disease , often without fundamental treatment for pain relief, and may also turn into chronic low back pain.

2. Physical rehabilitation therapy

Physical rehabilitation mainly includes hot compress, ultrasound therapy, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation therapy, laser therapy, etc., which can only be used as auxiliary therapy and cannot be curative.

3. Exercise therapy

Waist and abdomen training is a common treatment for chronic low back pain. For patients with mild chronic low back pain, proper exercise can be used to strengthen the lumbar muscles , thereby relieving pain and improving problems such as lumbar disc herniation.

In addition, developing good living habits in daily life can also help relieve waist discomfort, such as:

One is to maintain a correct sitting posture , you can place a lumbar pad on the stool to give your waist enough support; the other is to avoid sitting, standing, and lying down for a long time , and you can get up and move around every hour of work.

In addition, people with low back pain should not sleep on their backs for a long time . They can lie on their sides to reduce the pressure on the waist as much as possible. On weekdays, you can do more exercises such as swallow flying and hip bridge to exercise the function of the lower back muscles.

Low back pain is a reality that many people have to face. When low back pain occurs, one should not tolerate it, but actively find out the cause, intervene early, and cooperate with doctors for treatment, then the recovery of low back pain will be just around the corner.

References:

[1] "What can I do to save my low back pain? ". Human Health. 2022-07-27

[2] "Low Pain May Be a Sign of Cancer—Beware of Cancer Bone Metastasis!" 》. Cancer of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University. 2022-08-11

[3] "Back pain in the morning or back pain at night, orthopedic doctor: different reasons...". Life Times. 2022-08-19

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