Cold back (get myalgia) is very easy and simple if you are inattentive and rather frivolous about your he alth. As the saying goes, "would be a desire." Moreover, the disease can “knock you down” not only in winter, but also in summer. The fact is that in winter, people are more attentive to protecting their backs from drafts and wind. And in the summer, they relax and enjoy cooling their hot bodies under devices such as air conditioners. This is where the disease overtakes them.
The disease is characterized by rather severe pain in the lumbar region. Sometimes, pain does not allow you to normally bend and unbend your back, as well as move in the usual way. If you have a cold in your back, what should you do? Let's figure it out.
Remember! Hypothermia of the back can cause very serious complications and even chronic diseases. Therefore, you should not neglect the treatment of myalgia and this should be done immediately, as soon as you feel the firstsymptoms.
Causes of the disease
There can be many reasons for back pain:
- Draft. Even a short stay on it can cause a spastic increase in muscle tone, which occurs due to a sharp compression of blood vessels.
- Hypothermia. Even a lung can cause a typical complication.
- Cold water. By itself, it is unlikely to cause back pain, but in combination with a draft, it can very well.;
- Sharp temperature difference. The situation is very typical when you get into an air-conditioned room from the heat.
- Charging wind (for example, on an observation deck or promenade) can be a great "catalyst" for back pain.
- Small sip of cold water.
- Wrong clothes for going out. For example, jeans with a low waist that opens the waist, a short jacket or something like that.
All this can cause myalgia, as the body does not always manage to quickly respond to the current situation.
Myalgia mechanism
In heat, the blood vessels dilate, while the pulse and blood circulation slow down. Everything is natural. In the event of a sudden cooling of the body, the vessels are compressed, but the blood circulation rate is still low, as a result of which the level of human immunity decreases, and he is completely defenseless against bacteria and viruses.
Besides this, due to the sharpcontraction of blood vessels occurs their spasm, which provokes inflammation of the adjacent muscles - myositis. Neuritis, that is, inflammation of the nerve, may also occur.
Note! If a person performs hardening procedures, then his vessels become more elastic and tolerate temperature changes much easier.
Symptoms of the disease
Signs of a cold back that start appearing approximately 10-12 hours after one of the above:
Any movement that requires the activity of the back muscles causes a sharp sharp pain in the lumbar region. You have to find a comfortable position (sometimes unnatural) to make it easier to endure pain. At the same time, body movements become very constrained
Pain syndrome does not subside, even after a long rest
Note! As a rule, the inflammatory process develops asymmetrically: one side of the back hurts more than the other.
- There is an increase in temperature.
- Drawing pain in muscles that have been cold.
- Any massage of the back area causes quite painful sensations.
- Sometimes there is loss of skin sensation.
- When you have a cold in your back, your lower back hurts - it happens without fail. But pain can also be in the buttocks and in the muscles of the legs.
- Women may experience significant menstrual irregularities.
- With myositis, cold muscles become swollen and tight.
- Quite commonurination.
- Appetite decreases in some cases.
May experience nausea
Note! Very often people complain that they have a cold in their back, while it hurts between the shoulder blades. Could this be? Yes, very often with this ailment, the pain syndrome radiates to the neck or shoulder blades.
Can myalgia be confused with something else?
If you are self-diagnosing, then the above symptoms can easily be confused with signs of other diseases, for example:
- Glomerulonephritis, that is, inflammation of the kidneys. For this disease, pain in the lumbar region is quite a characteristic phenomenon.
- Pyelonephritis.
- Inflammation of the ovaries and fallopian tubes in women (uterine appendages).
- Cystitis, that is, inflammation of the bladder.
- The consequence of heavy physical exertion.
- Pinched nerve.
- Some back problems.
The whole difficulty is that any of the listed diseases can be provoked by banal hypothermia. Therefore, the diagnosis should be handled by a medical specialist. It is he who will prescribe the necessary tests and studies, determine the source of pain and prescribe treatment.
What to do if your back is cold
What to do if a sharp pain “overtook” you? At the first sign of pain in the back, do the following:
- Take a horizontal position, that is, lie down. Observe bedmode preferably a few days.
- Wrap your aching back with something warm, such as a woolen blanket or scarf. A good option would be to put a dry heating pad under the lumbar region.
- If the pain is unbearable, then you should take a medical pain reliever that relieves muscle spasm and pain.
- You can apply an ointment for the back, which has analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties, or apply an alcohol compress to the skin (they will be discussed below).
- Call a doctor at home.
Note! To fully recover from an illness, the doctor must issue a sick leave to the patient. If he forgets about it, he should be reminded.
Treatment process
How to cure a cold back? The disease is serious and requires complex treatment. Before you begin to get rid of the disease, the doctor must make an accurate diagnosis. If there is a cold in the back, treatment should be started as soon as possible, as in this case the patient has a better chance of success.
Convinced that the patient is suffering from inflammation of the back muscles, and not from another disease, the specialist prescribes the following medicines and rehabilitation measures:
It is necessary to provide complete rest to the back. Since it makes no sense to treat the lumbar region, while loading it and not giving time for recovery. Moreover, you need to adhere to bed rest for at least 3-4 days
Important! It is recommended to sleep exclusively on hard anda flat bed that does not sag under the weight of the body.
- Use prescribed medications for each specific case. It is unlikely that you will be able to do without them.
- Use topical preparations, namely ointments and gels, which have fewer side effects than other dosage forms. In the treatment they play an extremely important role and are very effective. Moreover, the question, if the nerve on the back is numb than to spread it, is not difficult, since the pharmacy chain offers a wide selection of all kinds of rubbing agents. These can be warming drugs, as well as painkillers with an anti-inflammatory effect (read more about them below).
Note! Gels have a better ability to penetrate deep into the muscles and do not clog the pores of the skin (compared to ointments). But, the latter have the best warming effect, since when they are applied to the skin, a protective film is formed.
- If muscle spasm is very disturbing to the patient, then relaxant injections may be prescribed.
- Physiotherapy treatments. They are prescribed only by a doctor.
- Warming up a cold area. It can be a warming woolen belt, a dry heating pad or a compress. Remember: hot baths during inflammation are strictly contraindicated, as they can only aggravate the situation.
- To relieve swelling, you should significantly limit s alt intake.
- Massage may be prescribed to improve circulation. But, be careful. In the first days of the disease, these manipulationscan be quite painful. Therefore, it is better to switch to massage during the recovery period, when it will not hurt so much to touch the muscles.
- Introduction to the daily routine of physiotherapy exercises.
- Nutritional adjustment, prescription of a certain diet.
Important! If a cold back is not completely cured, then you will have to remember the ailment every off-season.
As a rule, the treatment process takes place at home under the vigilant supervision of a therapist.
Note! If you are faced with a question, you have a cold back, what to do, and you immediately grab the first painkillers that come across, then this is wrong. You can bring your illness to chronic or purulent myositis. Only a medical specialist can prescribe the necessary drugs.
Warming preparations
Warming ointments for muscles and joints, as well as compresses (for example, "Apizartron" or "Finalgon") are drugs that have a distracting effect. The heat generated during their application helps to relax the muscles of the back. In this case, the pain stops and the spasm is removed.
Important! Warming ointments for muscles and joints should be prescribed exclusively by a doctor. Self-medication is unacceptable.
Irritating drugs
Ointments and gels containing mustard or red pepper extract, snake or bee venom, and camphor are irritants (for example, Kapsikam or Viprosal). They can be used not only as a remedy for a cold back, but also inas a preventive measure for this disease. If you rub the lumbar region with a similar preparation immediately after hypothermia, then the likelihood that an inflammatory process will begin will be reduced to zero. These ointments and gels help activate local immunity, improve blood circulation and speed up metabolism.
Painkillers
If you have a cold back what to do? Remove inflammation. This can be done (of course, after consulting your doctor) with the help of non-steroidal medications that are taken orally (for example, Movalis or Ortofen) and injections (for example, Analgin or Ketanov). They are prescribed both for quick (emergency) relief of pain, and for the protracted nature of the disease.
Important! The duration of taking non-steroidal drugs should not exceed 7 days.
Also, a good effect is the use of anesthetic ointments for the back with an anti-inflammatory effect (for example, Movasin or Diclofenac) and drugs with an antispasmodic effect (for example, Spazmalgon or No-Shpa).
Anti-inflammatory drugs
Anti-inflammatory drugs (for example, Fastum, Dolaren or Voltaren), which contain such active substances as methyl salicylate, ibuprofen and others, are very effective in combating inflammation of nerve endings and muscles back. Their characteristic feature is that they penetrate deeply into tissues, preventinginflammatory process.
Note! During the day, they must be applied quite often - 4-6 times, carefully rubbing the cold area. It is possible to use them as a compress.
Combined drugs
These medications contain warming, analgesic and anti-inflammatory components in their composition. For example, the drug "Dolobene" contains a substance such as heparin. It is extracted from snake venom and is prescribed not only in case of a catarrhal inflammatory process, but also for bruises and injuries. "Heparin" performs many functions:
- reduces swelling;
- thintens the blood;
- removes hematomas.
Note! Many preparations used for rubbing contain a substance such as menthol, which is obtained from mint. This component, which has vasodilating and cooling properties, is referred to as a therapy that is distracting in nature. Ointments and gels with menthol, in addition to the fact that they smell good, cause a pleasant feeling in the patient and relieve pain.
Traditional Medicine Tips
Cold back, what to do at home? There are a huge number of folk remedies for combating inflammation of the muscles of the back, which can be used as first aid for malaise or in addition to restorative measures prescribed by a doctor. All of them are mainly aimed at warming up the back, improving blood circulation and activating the muscles. It is suggested to use as compresses:
- S alt, warmed up orin a dry frying pan, or in a heated oven, wrap in a cloth and place on a cold area.
- Grease the cabbage leaf with either mustard or honey. Then we proceed in the same way as described above.
- Pepper plaster and mustard plasters put on the lumbar region.
- Lubricate the cold area with vegetable oil. It creates a film on the skin, which significantly impedes heat transfer and thereby helps to warm up the sore spot;
- Any animal fat (goat or badger), with which we act in the same way as with vegetable fat.
- Warm potatoes mashed and wrapped in cloth.
- Gauze or any cotton fabric soaked in diluted alcohol or vodka.
Important! Do not keep compresses for a very long time, especially when using pepper plasters and mustard plasters. Otherwise, there is a great danger of getting an allergic reaction or burns.
After the compress is removed, you can give the sufferer a massage using rubbing ointments. But you should not be too zealous, that is, such manipulations should not cause pain. After all, the main goal of any massage is to stimulate the muscles and improve blood circulation.
Remember: before you start using traditional medicine methods, you should make sure that:
- Diagnosis done correctly. A situation should be excluded when a person thinks that he has a cold in his back, but in fact he has kidney problems. In this caseall your efforts will be in vain. In this case, the disease will only progress, and precious time for successful treatment will be lost.
- As a result of using the proposed methods of warming up the back muscles, there will be no allergic reaction to any component.
Important! The use of folk remedies also needs the approval of a medical specialist.
In conclusion
Now you know what to do if you have a cold back. In your home first aid kit should be ointments and rubbing gels. It is also important to remember that in order to prevent the inflammatory process of the back muscles, it is necessary that the patient is in a horizontal position for several days. Do not forget about compresses, massage and therapeutic exercises, which must be carried out as pain decreases. Don't despair, you will succeed!
