Lower Back Pain Causes – What are the Main Reasons?
There are many lower back pain causes. These include nerve irritation, lumbar strain, bony encroachment, lumbar radiculopathy, and some other joints and bone conditions. Each of these lower back pain causes is reviewed in this article.
1. Nerve Irritation
Nerve irritation is one of the common lower back pain causes. The lumbar spine nerves can easily be irritated by any disease anywhere along the nerves’ paths, from the roots of the spinal cord to the surface skin. This condition causes radiculopathy or lumbar disc disease, nerve inflammation, and bony encroachment.
2. Acute and Chronic Lumbar Strain
Being one of lower back pain causes, a lumbar strain can be very painful as it is the result of a stretching injury that occurred in the lower back muscle ligaments and tendons, thereby causing different degrees of microscopic degeneration in the affected tissues. This condition is often caused by trauma, overuse, or improper use. Lumbar strain is classified into two types: acute lumbar strain which means that the lower back pain has been felt by the patient for days or weeks while chronic lumbar strain has been felt for more than three months already.
Bony encroachment results from movement in or growth of the vertebrae in the lumbar spine, thereby limiting the space for the adjacent spinal cord and nerves. This condition is one of the main lower back pain causes as it is caused by any of the following: Spondylolisthesis; Spinal stenosis and foraminal narrowing. The three above conditions cause sciatica pain with extreme pain radiating down to the lower extremities. Spinal stenosis is very painful especially when walking but this pain can relieved by resting. These conditions have different treatments depending on their severity. The treatments can be as simple as taking some rest or as complex as surgical decompression which involves bone removal.
4. Lumbar Radiculopathy
A type of nerve irritation, lumbar radiculopathy is a result of the damages in the discs along the vertebrae. This is usually caused by degeneration or wear and tear of the outer ring of the discs, traumatic injury, or even both. Because of these, the middle portion may rupture or be herniated through the outer ring of the disc and adjacent to the spinal column. The damage in this area causes sciatica pain that can be felt through the legs.
5. Joint and Bone Conditions
These conditions are also known lower back pain causes. Joint and bone conditions are classified into congenital injury or the injury present since birth, degenerative injury caused by the wear and tear of the muscles, tissues, and bones, or injuries resulting from the inflamed joints also known as arthritis. Congenital injuries are further classified into scoliosis and spina bifida. Spondylosis is one of the known degenerative injuries, characterized by the narrowed space between the vertebrae. Arthritis and fractures are also one of the known joint and bone conditions.
There you go- some of the most common lower back pain causes. If you feel any symptoms of lower back pain, make sure to consult with your doctor right away to see if any of the above mentioned is the reason why you feel some pain in your lower back.
