At Saudi German Hospital, we provide exceptional services in treating all kinds of spine related problems. Our multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists , orthopaedic surgeons, and physiatrics are here to follow you with great medical and health care.

What is Lower Back Pain?

The low back is also known as the ‘Lumbar Region’ an area that starts from below the ribcage. The lumbar spine consists of ligaments, nerves, interconnecting bones, muscles, and bones and these are working unitedly to support and give flexibility. The lumbar spine is responsible for carrying the weight of the upper body and makes it sensitive to various kinds of injuries or pain.

What are the causes for Lower Back Pain?

Causes of Lower Back include:

• Back Pain often happens because something is off in the way your spinal joints, muscles, discs, and nerves fit together and move.
• Herniated or slipped discs
• Degenerative disc disease
• Bulging Discs
• Spine related problems
• Pain caused by disease such as Cancer
• Spinal Stenosis
• Accidents and Injuries
• Spine or Vertebral Fractures

Other causes include:

• Arthritis: This is a joint disease that causes stiffness, swelling, and inflammation.
• Osteoarthritis: This type of arthritis happens when your cartilage and bones break down. This most often affects people from middle age onward.
• Scoliosis, or curvature of the spine: This is usually something you have from birth. If there’s pain, it typically starts in mid-life.
• Pregnancy: The weight you gain when you’re expecting can strain your back.
• Tumors: In rare cases you can get them in your back. They’re usually spread by a cancer that started somewhere else in your body.

Diagnosis of Lower Back Pain

The diagnosis of lower back pain begins from a complete inquiry about medical history and a physical examination to detect the troubling area in the body. However, imaging tests sucs as an X-Ray, CT Scan, MRI, and Ultrasounds may be done to check for disc problems, bone problems, and problems with the tendons and ligaments on the back.

Treatment for Lower Back Pain or Spinal Lumbar

Treatment for Spinal Lumbar includes:

• Medication such as:
  • Narcotic Drugs
  • Muscle Relaxants
  • Steroids to reduce Inflammation
  • Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
• Physical Therapy
  • Stretching
  • Massage
  • Strengthening Exercises
  • Back and Spinal Manipulation
• Surgery: Surgery is only recommended in a situation when all other treatments have failed. Types of surgery for lumbar spinal treatment include:
  • Spinal fusion. The surgeon removes the spinal disk between two or more vertebrae, then fuses the adjacent vertebrae using bone grafts or metal devices secured by screws. Spinal fusion may result in some loss of flexibility in the spine and requires a long recovery period to allow the bone grafts to grow and fuse the vertebrae together.
  • Discectomy. This procedure is used to remove a disk when it has herniated and presses on a nerve root or the spinal cord. Laminectomy and discectomy are frequently performed together.
  • Foraminotomy. In this procedure, the surgeon enlarges the bony hole where a nerve root exits the spinal canal to prevent bulging disks or joints thickened with age from pressing on the nerve.
  • Spinal Laminectomy: This procedure is also known as spinal decompression. This procedure involves the removal of lamina to enlarge the spinal canal. This surgical process helps to relieve pressure on the nerves and spinal cord.