Health : Do you ache in your back?

If so, it may cause loss of feet. So this is the time to treat it before it is too late, cautions Dr. K K Pandey

Backache and pain in legs have become a common problem these days. Not only old people, but also middle - aged, even younger ones do suffer from this problem of backache and lower limb pain. Never would you have thought in your dreams that this simple backache might lead to loss of your leg and feet, if not managed properly. Generally people think that backache occurs due to some problem with backbone or compression of some backbone nerve or sciatica or stretched out nerve from backbone, but this has never occurred to your mind that this backache might have been due to blockage of blood pipe (artery) situated inside your abdomen and that supplying pure blood to your legs and feet. If a vascular or a cardiovascular surgeon does not treat this condition promptly, the patient may reach a stage where no other choice is left, except for amputation of legs.

What a patient of backache generally does?

People often do not take backache seriously and keep on consulting different kinds of quakes, and in the process they are advised various types of medication and medicinal baths. As expected when there is no relief, and pain gets intensified and colours of skin of toes and feet becomes dark, they ultimately consult bone specialists who diagnose it as either sciatica or spondylitis and continues to treat that way, sometimes a traction with a weight is applied to feet to correct stretched-out nerve causing a so-called sciatic pain. Majority of the physician and family doctors diagnose this type of pain as arthritis or joint pain and casually refers these patients to a bone specialist. Some patients take the help of acupuncture. In spite of all these treatments, there occurs no relief in backache, and ultimately patients reach a stage, where amputation and loss of feet becomes inevitable.

Mother of all Backaches - Lerich Syndrome

This type of backache caused by blockade of arteries supplying blood to lower limbs is called LERICH SYNDROME. In Leriche syndrome, the main artery situated inside the abdomen, that carries blood to legs and feet either gets narrowed considerably, or gets blocked due to deposition of fat inside. This results into a decreased and inadequate supply of pure blood to legs, feet, and other organs situated in the lower part of abdomen. Because of this inadequate blood supply, a person starts complaining of backache. Slowly and slowly pain starts in thighs and after sometime feet also start aching. Gradually intensity of pain increases and later on it becomes unbearable. If timely treatment is not initiated under supervision of a Cardiovascular or a Vascular Surgeon, toes get swollen and start becoming dark and later gangrene develops in the feet. In the end, patient of Leriche syndrome loses his feet.