What is the most common cause of back pain?

You are not alone if you have had lower back discomfort. Back pain is one of the most common reasons people visit the doctor or miss work. Back pain can affect children of all ages, including those in school.

The level of back pain can range from a slow, continuous ache to a sudden, sharp, or shooting agony. It might start quickly as a result of an accident or by carrying something large, or it can grow gradually as we become older. Inadequate exercise followed by a vigorous workout might also cause back pain.

Back pain is classified into two types:

• Acute or short-term back pain can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. The majority of low back pain is severe. It usually goes away on its own after a few days of self-care, and there is no lingering loss of function.

• Chronic back pain is define as pain that lasts 12 weeks or longer after an initial injury or underlying cause of acute low back pain is treat. At one year, around 20% of people who experience acute low back pain acquire chronic low back pain with persistent symptoms. Even if pain persists, this does not always indicate the presence of a medically serious underlying cause or one that is easily identity and treat. Treatment successfully relieves chronic low back pain in some cases, but pain persists in others despite medical and surgical treatment.

What structures comprise the back?

The lower back, which is where most back pain occurs, is made up of five vertebrae (L1-L5) in the lumbar region, which bears the majority of the weight of the upper body. The spaces between the vertebrae are maintain by intervertebral discs, which are round, rubbery pads that act as shock absorbers throughout the spinal column to cushion the bones as the body moves. Ligaments, which are bands of tissue, hold the vertebrae in place, and tendons connect the muscles to the spinal column. Thirty-one pairs of nerves are connect to the spinal cord and control body movements as well as send signals from the body to the brain.

Other vertebrate segments include the cervical (neck), thoracic (upper back), sacral, and coccygeal (below the lumbar area).

What factors can contribute to lower back pain?

The majority of acute low back pain is mechanical in nature, which means that there is a disruption in how the back’s components (the spine, muscles, intervertebral discs, and nerves) fit together and move. Mechanical causes of low back pain include the following:

Congenital

• Skeletal irregularities such as scoliosis (spinal curvature), lordosis (an abnormally exaggerated arch in the lower back), kyphosis (excessive outward arch of the spine), and other congenital spine anomalies.

• Spina bifida, which is characterize by the incomplete development of the spinal cord and/or its protective covering and can result in problems such as vertebral malformation, abnormal sensations, and even paralysis.

Sprains (overstretched or torn ligaments), strains (tears in tendons or muscle), and spasms are all examples of injuries (sudden contraction of a muscle or group of muscles)

• Traumatic injury, such as playing sports, being in a car accident, or falling, can injure tendons, ligaments, or muscles, causing pain, as well as compress the spine and cause discs to rupture or herniate.

Degenerative issues

• Intervertebral disc degeneration occurs when the normally rubbery discs wear down and lose their cushioning ability as a normal ageing process.

• Arthritis or other inflammatory disease of the spine, such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as spondylitis (vertebral inflammation).

Problems with the nerves and spinal cord

• Compression, inflammation, and/or injury to the spinal cord

• Sciatica (also known as radiculopathy), which is caused by something pressing on the sciatic nerve, which runs through the buttocks and down the back of the leg. Sciatica patients may experience shock-like or burning low back pain, as well as pain in the buttocks and down one leg.

• Spinal stenosis, which is a narrowing of the spinal column that places pressure on the spinal cord and nerves.

• Cauda equine syndrome occurs when a ruptured disc pushes into the spinal canal and presses on the bundle of lumbar and sacra nerve roots. If this syndrome is not treat, it can cause permanent neurological damage.

• Osteoporosis (a progressive decrease in bone density and strength that can lead to painful fractures of the vertebrae)