What Causes Back Pain?
About 80 percent of all Americans will have at least one backache during their lives. Every year articles and books about back pain appear, espousing new and old theories about what causes back pain and how to treat backaches. However, there’s room for controversy because the back is such a complicated, sophisticated structure, and while we can name all the bones, joints, nerves, muscles, and ligaments that constitute it, the sum total remains something of a mystery.
Pain and stiffness in the lower back can take several forms.
- Strain and sprain. The terms back strain and back sprain are often loosely applied to a broad spectrum of back disorders. Strain is generally used when a muscle is overstretched, and sprain when a ligament is partially torn. However, it is seldom clear whether it’s a muscle or ligament that’s been damaged, let alone whether it has been torn or not. Two other terms, muscle spasm and ruptured disk, are more clearly defined.
- Muscle spasm. The most common form of spasm is a sudden onset of sustained, painful, involuntary contractions of muscles in the back. This may serve to immobilize irritated back muscles, thereby protecting them and spinal nerves. A spasm usually results from a back injury but may also be caused or aggravated by poor posture, lots of sitting in the same position, tense back muscles and weak abdominal muscles. Many researchers claim that psychological stress can also trigger muscle spasms.
- Disk problems. These are actually relatively uncommon. Only 2 to 4 percent of back ailments are due to what is commonly called a slipped disk. The term slipped is a misnomer, since the disk actually bulges (herniates) from between two vertebrae and may eventually rupture. If a displaced disk presses on a spinal nerve, the nerve can send shooting pains to the legs or arms, or create a sensation of tingling or numbness in them. If, as is common, the affected nerve is the sciatic, the condition is called sciatica.
- Underlying diseases and structural problems. A small percentage of all back pain may be caused by identifiable medical problems such as kidney disease, cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis or spinal infection. Sideways curvature (scoliosis), sway back (lordosis, or excessive curve in the lower back), or other structural defects may also be at the root of back pain.
Symptoms of Backache
- Persistent tenderness, stiffness, or pain in the lower back that can range from mild discomfort to excruciating pain and often limits motion
- Gradual stiffening of the lower back, especially after sitting for extended periods
Underlying Back Pain Causes
Low-back trouble is so common because the human spine hasn’t evolved to the point where people can walk upright without some risk. Being erect puts extra pressure on the vertebrae of the lower back, or lumbar region, where the back curves most and where pain most often strikes. Backaches become more common between the ages of 30 and 50, as the disks—the fibrous pads that cushion the vertebrae—start to lose water and elasticity and thus some of their ability to absorb shock. In middle age, too, people tend to become less active, and their muscles grow lax, contributing to back instability.
A small portion of all backaches do have clear causes—for instance, a ruptured disk or some underlying disease. But in the great majority of cases the exact diagnosis isn’t known. Is the cause of your backache that sudden movement yesterday when you bent down to pick up the newspaper, or is the problem that you get too little (or too much) exercise? Or could it be poor posture, or just everyday wear and tear? In fact, it’s probably a combination of all these factors.
Usually x-rays show nothing wrong despite the pain—yet in some cases there is dramatic damage to disks but no pain whatsoever. Back injuries are often made worse by a number of contributing factors that include posture problems, tension and stress, a sedentary lifestyle, obesity, pregnancy, a sagging mattress, or poor body mechanics when lifting heavy objects.
What If You Do Nothing about Back Pain?
Fortunately, most backaches aren’t serious and generally go away in a few weeks, with or without medical attention. For persistent or recurring back pain, or backaches that interfere with daily activities, home remedies or professional medical care often can provide back pain relief.
Source:
The Complete Home Wellness Handbook
John Edward Swartzberg, M.D., F.A.C.P., Sheldon Margen, M.D., and the editors of the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter
Updated by Remedy Health Media
