Lower back pain is a common problem that severely impacts the quality of your life. It can limit your ability to be active. It can cause you to miss work. Many different causes may lead to pain in your lower back.
Neck pain is a common problem that severely impacts the quality of your life. It can limit your ability to be active. It can cause you to miss work. Many different causes may lead to pain in your neck.
An estimated 10 million adults suffer from chronic back pain annually. The majority of these patients have degenerative and related conditions. These degenerative conditions can result in instability and spinal nerve compression, causing back pain and/or radiating pain in the arms or legs.
Before recommending back surgery, doctors usually first prescribe nonsurgical treatments, including lifestyle changes, bed rest, medication, physiotherapy and steroid injections, depending on a patient’s particular indications. When these treatments are not effective, some patients require spine surgery.
Symptoms
Acute pain comes on suddenly and can be severe, but lasts a relatively short time.
Chronic pain is a persistent state of pain that does not get better on its own over time. It can be brought on by injury, illness, or age.
Back pain can be felt constantly or intermittently, and may be a dull ache or a sharp, piercing, or burning sensation. The pain can stay in one place or radiate to other areas, such as the front, sides, back, legs, and neck.
Causes
Some of the more common causes of back pain originate in the muscles and/or nerves.
Muscles Back pain can be the result of a sudden, awkward movement, strained back muscles and ligaments, or lifting heavy objects.
Nerves Pressure on, or impingement of nerve roots in the spinal canal can be caused by herniated discs, arthritic conditions, bone spurs, or displacement of vertebrae. Nerve compression can result in pain throughout all areas of the back, and often into the extremities.
When any of the anatomy of the spine, exiting nerves, muscles, or surrounding ligaments are not functioning properly, you may experience pain. This can include back, leg, and/or neck pain depending on the dysfunction. The duration and intensity of back pain also varies.
Pain can be displayed as the following:
- Constant, sporadic, or occur in response to certain positions or activities
- Dull, sharp, piercing, or burning
- Localised, or radiating from the neck or back into the arm or hand, or leg and foot.
Back pain is typically a result of an injury or trauma, a disorder such as degenerative disc disease (DDD), a tumour, osteoporosis, or arthritis.
This can cause:
- Back, muscle, or ligament strain
- Spinal instability or scoliosis
- Bulging or herniated discs
- Spinal stenosis and bone spurs
- Spinal nerve impingement.
The root cause of back pain may vary from complications during daily activities, a hereditary or congenital abnormality, or anatomical changes that take place during the natural aging process.
