CHAPTER XIV.

LAME BACK.

The manufacturers of various compounds advertised in our daily newspapers and on the billboards usually select very common ailments or symptoms on which to exploit the merits of their product. They make no distinction between a disease and its symptoms; and why should they, when their sole object is to sell their goods?

Lame back is a common weakness of that portion of the spine usually spoken of as the “small of the back.” As a general rule, it is an indication of some pelvic disease involving the anus, rectum, colon, bladder, or uterus. Those who suffer from disease of one or more of the pelvic organs will have at times reminders that they have a lame, weak, or “dead” spot at the “small of the back” or a little lower down on the spine.

As an illustration, a current advertisement reads as follows: “Weak Backs! If you happen to be one of those unfortunate people with a weak, lame, tired, aching back, it is time you were finding out about ----.” Then the advertisement proceeds to tell how to put on a plaster or a liniment, or rub the back for a week or two with the hands. Another enterprising wonder-worker asks: “Do you get up with a lame back? Thousands of women have kidney trouble and never suspect it.” “Lifted from the depths of despair by----” etc. Now, this may be seriously alarming to actual sufferers from lame back.

The kidneys are located several inches above the region called the “small of the back”; therefore, a difficulty in this region does not necessarily indicate disease of the kidneys. Those who suffer from the symptoms described--lame, weak, hot, dead spots, lumbago, rheumatism, etc.--at this portion of the spine may suspect that some of the organs in what is called the pelvic cavity are causing them. The spinal nerves (lumbar nerves) on leaving the “small of the back” and proceeding lower down are distributed to the anus, rectum, bladder, uterus, etc., and when one or more of these organs are diseased the victim will have some of the symptoms in the portion of the back mentioned above. The earlier indications of a disease are usually localized, but, as the malady itself persists indefinitely, both the sufferer and his physician are often deceived as to the producing cause of the varying symptoms manifesting throughout the body.

In this brief chapter I will confine myself to the diseases of the anus, rectum, and colon, as causing so much annoyance from the symptoms enumerated at or below the “small of the back.” The most common ailment that afflicts mankind is chronic catarrhal inflammation of the anus, rectum, and colon. The disease invades not only the mucous membrane but the whole bowel structure, and the nerves report from the seat of the trouble up to where they enter the spinal column--a region that should be called the porous-plaster region rather than the “small of the back.”

The chronic inflammation involving eight to ten inches of the lower portion of the intestinal canal, like all other diseases, has its alternating periods of quietude and excitement; and the negligent sufferer must count on having “stitches in the back,”--cold in the back, lumbago, rheumatism, sciatica, etc., as they are usually called for want of a definite idea as to the _cause_ of the annoying symptoms. The physician consulted usually agrees with the sufferer’s diagnosis, and coincides with the application of bands, porous plasters, liniments, etc.--which may allay the neuralgic symptoms to some extent.

The reader is so familiar with illustrations in the newspapers and on bill-boards of a man with a weak or lame back that it is unnecessary here to take up space with a pen picture descriptive of the symptoms and attitudes of a sufferer.

Those who have had occasion to acquire the warm-band, the rubbing with liniment, and the plaster habits, had better direct their attention and remedies to the _cause_ of the symptoms. One frequent source of all these back symptoms is chronic inflammation of the anus, rectum, and colon, with more or less ulceration accompanying it. In the female, disease of the uterus complicates the painful symptoms. Usually among the first indications of this disease is some degree of constipation, which in time is followed by local symptoms known as piles, fissure, itching tabs, clot of blood in a vein, abscess, etc. Constipation is a prolific cause of indigestion, biliousness, flatulency, loss of appetite, self-poisoning, anemia, emaciation, uric acid, neuralgia in various parts of the system, catarrhal inflammation of the mucous membrane of one or more organs, and many other symptoms.

A diseased organ is a constant source of unconscious and conscious irritation to the sufferer. If the victim can tolerate the trouble he seldom seeks treatment. “I will not bother with it as long as it is no worse,” he says. At times, however, the symptoms become very annoying, and measures are taken to allay them. During the long interval of “better and worse” effects the malady is becoming more deeply seated, and the symptoms eventually appear in all parts of the body.

As a rule, the majority of victims put off treatment until a protracted period of extreme suffering or the fear of a fatal ending compels them to consult a physician--who labors at a great disadvantage in seeking to effect a cure on account of the long neglect.

Severe symptoms located at the porous-plaster region of the spine, when brought on by disease of the lower bowel, usually indicate an acute stage of chronic inflammation and retention of feces and gases in the sigmoid flexure and colon. Acute or subacute inflammation and fever and pressure of the feces are more than the long-abused nerves can endure, and severe pain is the result.

Then the sufferer has something to say about his back, and what is best to do for it.

The logical course is to unload the bowels of feces and gases by a generous use of the enema and to treat the diseased tissues kindly. The symptoms will soon disappear when the cause is removed.