With the millions of Baby Boomers now reaching retirement age, chronic back pain has become one of the most prevalent health issues which doctors are called upon to treat. If your back pain has reached the point where you think it is no longer manageable without back pain medication, you should educate yourself on the various back pain medications available. By doing so, you will be able to help your doctor settle on the appropriate back pain medication regimen for you.

Back pain medication, even for those who do not like the idea of using medication of any kind, may sometimes be necessary. Unless you decrease your back pain enough to regain mobility, your entire body will lose conditioning and you will have a very difficult time becoming active again once the condition causing your back pain has subsided.

Types Of Back Pain Medication

There are several families of back pain medication, both over-the-counter and prescription. They include anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants, opioids, and acetaminophen.

Some of the most traditional and common forms of back pain medication are anti-inflammatory drugs, acetaminophen, opioids and muscle relaxants. Acetaminophen is the "official' name for Tylenol, Phenaphen, and Anacin-3, and its analgesic properties make it very useful as back pain medication.

Anti-inflammatories stimulate the healing process and reduce pain and swelling. Naproxen, ibuprofen, and even humble aspirin are anti-inflammatories, and are effective as back pain medication because they can ease inflamed spinal nerves.

Opioids are appropriate only in the most severe cases of back pain; they are morphine derivatives and extremely addictive. But for those who have chronic, untreatable back pain, the may be a last resort back pain medication. They must be prescribed by a doctor.

Muscle relaxants are used to treat those whose back muscles have gone into spasm as they try to protect an injured area. One of the most common causes of back pain comes from back muscles which attempt to do the job of injured tissue and end up becoming stressed themselves.

A muscle relaxant is a back pain medication which will target the back muscles in spasm and get them to release their tension; once they are relaxed, not only will the back pain be decreased significantly, the muscles will once again work properly so that you will be mobile enough to begin back exercises, or have chiropractic manipulation.

While back pain medication is not the answer to back pain, it can certainly be an effective aid in helping a back pain sufferer heal enough to treat the real cause of the his or her problem. pain so you can start to heal.

If you have injured yourself and the pain is acute it could be that your muscles are spasming. In this case your doctor will probably prescribe muscle relaxants. When something in your back is injured and the other muscles have to make up for the injured part they just start spasming from the stress. Often this is what is causing a lot of the pain. Once the muscles are brought back under control with the muscle relaxant, your pain will often decrease significantly and you will be able to move on to other treatment such as chiropractic or physical therapy.