General information about back pain

Age-related characteristics of the spine in normal

The spine is one of the most complex organs of the human body. On the one hand, it is the main organ of the axial skeleton, performing supporting, motor and protective functions, on the other hand, it is a combination of many vertebral-motor segments

Terminology and classification of lumbar disc pathology

Recommendations of the Joint Task Forces of the North American Spine Society, the American Society of Spine Radiology, and the American Society of Neuroradiology

Chronic pain and comorbid conditions

The great social and economic importance of chronic pain is widely recognized. The financial costs of treating back pain alone are three times greater than the costs of treating cancer patients.

Alexithymia and pain

In the history of the development of psychosomatic research, one of the central directions is represented by the search for a special mental quality of psychosomatic specificity, which is a factor predisposing to the emergence of psychosomatic pathology, influencing the course and treatment of diseases.

Measuring and controlling pain

The simplest and most common method is to record the intensity of pain using rank scales. There is a numerical rank scale (NRS), consisting of a sequential series of numbers from 1 to 5 or up to 10.

The pathologic algic system: the antinociceptive system

The accumulated facts are united into a coherent theory of generator systems by G.N.Kryzhanovsky (1980, 1997). The basis of pathological pain is the emergence of a generator of pathologically enhanced excitation (GPE) in the central nervous system.

Neuropathic back pain

Neuropathic pain is pain that occurs as a direct consequence of injury or disease affecting the somatosensory system.

Nociceptive pain

Nociceptive pain syndromes occur as a result of activation of nociceptors in damaged tissues. Typically, zones of constant pain and increased pain sensitivity (lowering of thresholds) appear at the site of damage (hyperalgesia).

Anatomy of the nociceptive system

The perception of damaging effects is carried out by nociceptors. Nociceptors, first discovered in 1969 by E. Perl and A. Iggo, are non-encapsulated endings of A8 and C-afferents.

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