Risks of Not Treating Your Back Pain

Back pain can be unbearable, but without prompt intervention, it can get even worse. This condition usually results from injury or damage to the spine or the back involving the nerves, ligaments, muscles, spinal discs or spinal vertebrae.

Back pain treatment involves helping the injured part or parts to recover properly and to the fullest degree possible. If the injury doesn't heal as it should, acute back pain can quickly turn into chronic back pain.

Chronic back pain is pain that persists for 12 consecutive weeks or more. The pain can be accompanied by depression, anxiety, drug addiction and a reduced quality of life. Here are just some of the complications that can occur when back pain goes untreated.

Emotional Imbalance

The emotional consequences of chronic pain can be severe. Discomfort and lack of mobility can cause depression, and depression makes the pain worse. The upshot is a vicious cycle of increased disability and increased depression as emotions follow a downward spiral.

Unlike feeling down for a few days, depression is a long-term, chronic condition with many symptoms. Its most striking features are sadness, lack of energy and disinterest in life.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, up to half of those with chronic pain have a mood disorder like depression or anxiety. Feelings of helplessness, hopelessness and worthlessness are all associated with chronic pain and the lack of mobility it imparts.

Chronic back pain can have a negative effect on your pocketbook, too. Sick days and medical costs that pile up as a result of restricted movement can cause feelings of financial insecurity and worry about the future. This, in turn, can generate more chronic pain and intensify depression.

People with severe chronic back pain feel angry and frustrated with themselves, and their relationships can suffer the consequences.

Effects of Depression on Back Pain Treatment

Depression can have a negative impact on back pain treatments. As depression gains a greater foothold, it can impede recovery from surgery and other rehabilitative procedures because the patient isn't motivated to recover.

Structural Changes in the Brain

Brain imaging studies have revealed that those with chronic pain can develop structural anomalies in the brain. Meanwhile, chronic back pain can damage spinal cord nerves. Those two factors could account for why roughly 20 percent of those suffering from back pain are still in pain after the underlying condition has been treated.

Impaired Ability to Perform Daily Living Tasks

Chronic pain makes it hard to perform the activities of daily life. Basic self-care chores like taking a shower or brushing your teeth go undone because they cause pain. Some patients have difficulty working. Others cannot work at all.

Limited Mobility

Limited mobility can cause chronic stiffness and muscle weakness as well as heart disease and diabetes. When chronic pain goes untreated, it makes the initial injury worse and restricts mobility even more. As mobility is lost, so is independence, and loss of independence intensifies depression.

Tired Muscles

Your entire body needs the help of bones, muscles and ligaments in the back to execute any movement properly. When the back and spine are compromised, the rest of the body will be compromised, too. With chronic back pain, even simple movements in other parts of the body will be more difficult, and your muscles will get tired much faster than they should.

Distorted Posture

The body naturally moves in such a way as to minimize pain. These adjustments in movement provide short-term relief. However, they also exert unnecessary pressure on other parts of the back and body.

Posture can become distorted when the body continually holds an unnatural position to avoid pain. Without treatment, the body adjusts to impaired posture and permanently holds a deformed position.

Spinal Injury

Improper movements designed to relieve pain can irritate the nerves in the spinal cord and cause additional pain. If nerve irritation is not treated, permanent disability can result. Injured vertebrae can set off intense nerve pain while causing the spinal canal to narrow.

Nerve Damage

Pressure from a slipped or herniated disc can damage the nerves in the spinal canal. These nerves then travel to other parts of the body and generate pain and weakness there.

The sciatic nerve runs from the lower back down the back of each leg. It’s just one of many nerves that can be affected by compression. However, the pain it inflicts can be debilitating enough to prevent you from walking, standing up, bending over or having a bowel movement. There could be weakness or numbness in the leg or foot that prevents movement.

Sciatica symptoms include lower back pain, hip pain and a sharp, tingling or burning sensation that extends up and down one leg. At its worse, sciatica feels like an electric shock and a massive charlie horse all rolled into one.

Work Disability

Chronic back pain is the number one reason for absenteeism at work due to disability. Because the pain interferes with basic movements like sitting, standing, walking and bending, it's difficult to perform many types of jobs.

Weight Gain

Those who suffer from restricted mobility usually exercise less. Food may become a source of comfort for those with chronic pain, and the extra pounds restrict movement even more. Fewer calories are burned, and the pounds can pile up.

Poor Sleep

Chronic pain can cause ongoing sleep disturbances and an irregular sleep pattern. Both variables prevent you from getting enough rest. Insufficient sleep can cause irritability, negativity, poor judgement and an inability to manage stress. Pain makes it hard to sleep, and once you fall asleep, pain makes it hard to wake up.

Help Is Available

If you are experiencing back pain, don't wait to get help. Back pain can be serious, but there are many safe and effective treatments that can restore your back and spine to a state of optimal health.

Don't give up. Waiting for back pain to dissolve on its own without intervention will make matters worse. It's always best to treat back pain straight on.