General Orthopedic Problem

About General Orthopedic Problem

More than 80% population suffer from common orthopedic problem like low backache, neck pain and joint pain in whole life more than once. Commonest cause of backache and neck pain is the abnormal posture, muscle weakness. Degenerative changes due to aging is also one of common problem in middle age and geriatric population. Most of time, these entire problem can be prevented by the proper care which include proper nutrition, weight maintenance, physical exercise, correct posture, proper use of mattress and pillow and ergonomics. Due to stressful life in this modern era, we always ignore these facts so by repeated attack of these problem it became persistent and affect quality of life.  Other causes are infection like tuberculosis, trauma etc. if backache or neck pain do not resolve by two week then investigation like blood profile, x-ray, MRI is required to rule out the causes. Joint pain also occur because of trauma, arthritis and bad posture. It also require detail evaluation. 

Back ache

Backache is very common entity after cough. In which low backache is the commonest problem.  Backache can affect any age group people but it affects more to young adult and old age group.  Backache can occur because of problem in vertebral bone, muscles, nerves, disc between two vertebrae and joint.  Chances of having backache to a person’s lifetime is 80%. Commonest cause of backache is wrong posture. There are many other important causes, which include muscle pull, disc diseases, arthritis, infection like tuberculosis, cancer, deformity in vertebral bones and osteoporosis. In females, there are more chances of backache due to reproductive tract infection and pregnancy. Backache can also occur more frequently in cases of obesity, stressful daily routine, long duration of standing, sedentary lifestyle, old age, mental problems, and cigarette smokers. Usually it does not require any investigation. But if even after two weeks treatment, there is no relief then X-ray and MRI are done with medical advice. X-ray tells about problem in back bones and MRI detects finer problem of nerve, muscles, bone & joint. In the initial period of backache, proper posture in sitting and standing, pain killer medicines, hot fomentation, exercises and use of braces gives fast relief.  But braces are advised only for few days. Exercises increase strength and flexibility in back muscle. Precautions to be taken in refraining from picking heavy weight in forward bending, sitting straight on the chair, using cotton mattress, avoid sleeping in prone position for long time. If there is loss of weight, persistent of fever, swelling in back, pain in legs, tingling, weakness, problem in urine, very old age and cancer in body along with back ache then we require specific investigations. Treatment is based on specific condition. In postmenopausal female, osteoporosis is very common. Osteoporosis needs specific treatment including ant osteoporotic drugs, calcium, vitamin d, belt, exercise, oil massage etc.