Why Chronic Back Pain Is So Hard to Treat and Eliminate

For many people, lower back pain and soreness become a way of life. While they are usually able to work and live and engage in most daily activities, they really never again have the full range of motion and ease of movement that they had before developing chronic pain. And while it seems that every website and doctor has their own magic bullet that has cured and prevented all sorts of different issues, when most people try these solutions, they are met with nothing but mediocre improvement, at best.

Chronic back pain can be very difficult to deal with because, often, the signs of tissue damage or injury have little or nothing to do with the feelings of discomfort. While one person may have pain and a bulging spinal disc, other people have absolutely no pain caused by a slipped or herniated disc or even worse damage. Some people, though, develop pain while others do not even know that they have any tissue damage at all.

Once back pain develops, it can also be difficult for the patient and doctor to tell where the problem is actually located. Too often, the feelings of discomfort are felt in a general area but do not relate well to any particular anatomical feature. A sore lower back is a real feeling for many people, but the muscles, ligaments, discs, and vertebrae of the lower back may not show any signs of damage or inflammation. But the pain persists.

And pain, as it becomes longer lasting over time, can spread from one area of the body to another. Again, lower back pain may be felt right in the middle of the back just above the hips to start. But over weeks, it may begin to be felt only on one side, or spread down through the hips and one leg. Over time, the pain may recur in one area but also spread further at different times.

With this phenomenon of the pain spreading through various tissues, searching for a damaged muscle or ligament becomes even more difficult. In fact, these types of pains with no discernible injury or site of inflammation may be a symptom of the central nervous system -- the brain and spinal cord -- becoming more highly sensitized, rather than a symptom of the painful tissues actually being damaged in some way.

Another sign of this central nervous system type of chronic pain is that people with pain on one side of their back can also feel pain on the other side. While the pain may not be as bad on the other side, it can often be experienced quite clearly at times. This makes it even more difficult to find a problem with the tissues that could explain such a mirroring of pain.

Once pain starts to become more chronic, it seems to take on a life of its own. Patients may have a continual nagging ache accompanied by occasional flashes of severe pain. And the feelings can travel around the body, causing problems elsewhere in the spine, neck, shoulders, hips, legs, and even further. Unfortunately, dealing with such centrally-caused back pain can be very difficult, and may require various treatment plans including tissue work and retraining the nerves to move with less pain.