Whether acidity is the cause of Back Pain or Back Pain causes acidity is a question I face every day in my outpatient department. In the last 15y as spine surgeon seeing patients with spinal disorders, I have divided my patients with Back Pain as Surgical and non-surgical patients. Surgical patients are straight forward (simple and easy?), where 2+2 is 4; it's the non-surgical Back Pain which generates lots of challenges to the therapy team.
Majority of the Back Pain patients are middle age, obese, under stress, Peri-menopausal and Hypothyroid. It's more common in females than in males. These symptoms have started appearing in younger individuals too. When you dig deep in the history of these patients they have associated pain in the heels, knees, and upper back on and off.
Before getting into the Causes of Back Pain, I would like to brush through the normal physiology of our body. To have a healthy pain-free body the internal milieu of the body should have an alkaline pH that is more than 7.4. Naturally, our body is designed with many organs or surfaces, generating alkalies like the salivary glands which are 4-5 in numbers and the long tract (7m) of intestines; however, there is only one organ which generates acid-that is the stomach. The acid in normal quantity is important in the body to decimate debris and throw them off the body. To maintain harmony in the internal physiology the body's milieu should always be above pH 7.4, which means we should always have an alkaline milieu. Whenever this harmony is shifted towards acidic or <7.4, pain arises and degeneration sets in. Access of acid gets accumulated in the ends of the bigger muscles like Trapezius (Upper Back Pain), Erector Spinae (Lower Back Pain) and Gastro soleus (calf muscles- heel pain). The blood acid levels are usually on the higher side and these patients take longer time to heal.
- Causes Of Backpain
Stress and Anxiety- This is a primary cause of back pain. Stress starts a cascade of changes in the system of the body. It increases the secretion of acid in the stomach. The acid secreted supersedes the alkali in the body and this event leads to muscle tension, muscle spasms and back pain.
Diet- Good nutrition and a balanced diet are important components of overall health. If the patients with a back problem, burden their body with an acidic diet like citric acid fruits (oranges, sweet lime, lemon), fermented food like Curd, buttermilk or idli/dosas and non-vegetarian food like red meat, suffer from significant back pain. These dietary products increase the acid in their body.
Drugs- Drugs in any form have one effect and 2 side-effects. Pain killers when taken to control Back Pain can increase the acidity, thus increasing the cause in spite of treating it.
So the myth that Back Pain treatment leads to acidity should be corrected by decreasing the acidity by maintaining a healthy balanced diet and by modifying our lifestyle. Simple measures can treat the most disabling problem in our society.
So here, I rest my case by allowing you to decide whether acidity came first or Back Pain.
