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As people age or tend to overwork, they are occasionally heard complaining about back pain. However you would sometimes come across cases of back pain in children. Due to lack of information, a number of parents tend to dismiss it as nothing but children imitating others to take a day off school. If your children are complaining of back pain, you should not be one of those ignorant parents and must check the matters because back pain in children can give rise to complications very fast. Remember that any dillydallying in this regard can even leave your child disabled for his entire life.
Types of Disease Behind Back Pain in Children
Back pain in children generally does not arise all by itself. There is one or another reason behind it. In most of the cases, it includes mechanical problems which may be an overuse injury. Other causes behind mechanical problems include a ruptured disc, musculoskeletal problems or even a direct traumatic injury. In some children the problems may arise because of the way their body has developed. This primarily holds true in cases of spondylolysis or spondylolisthesis. Isolated cases of children with neoplastic problems have come in to light with complaints of back pain. These have been cases of both- primary and metastatic nature. Children suffering from infectious or inflammatory diseases have also complained of back pain.
How to Treat Back Pain in Children
It is a must that the exact nature and reason behind back pain be determined before any treatment is started. If you are a medical care practitioner, you should go through the complete case history and avoid jumping to premature conclusions. It is advised that you get the patient to go through X-Ray, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and CT scans so as to understand the exact condition of the patient. A radioisotope bone scan is also recommended. Once you have determined the disease causing the back pain in children, you should decide what is the best way to sort things out.
There are a number of simple cases which involve either injury due to overuse or abnormal development process. In such cases, the best bet is to use analgesics so as to minimize the physical activity. In case it does not yield the expected results, the next option is to try braces. For cases where even the braces are not going to cut it, you should consider surgery as the next resort. In case the matter is nothing more than simple infection or inflammation, appropriate antibiotics should be prescribed.
Back pain in children is becoming increasingly common and all across the globe, health care bodies are working to identify the key factors behind the problem. While these studies will yield results in due course of time, until then back pain in children should not be taken lightly and should be treated as appropriate.
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