Lower Back Pain Causes

Lower back pain can come on suddenly (acute) or can develop gradually over a period of weeks. If the pain persists it’s described as chronic.

Acute Lower Back Pain Causes:

Sudden back pain can be caused by lifting or moving heavy objects such as furniture, and is due to a strained muscle or tendon. The injury may be aggravated by subsequent activity. In most cases, symptoms subside within 2 – 14 days.

Chronic Lower Back Pain Causes:

• Back pain that tends to be more persistent is often caused by poor posture, such as while sitting at a desk or driving a car, or but excessive muscle tension due to emotional stress.

• In back pain in pregnancy there are two factors at work – changes in posture because of the extra weight of the baby and softening of the ligaments supporting the spine due to high levels of pregnancy hormones.

• In people over age 45, persistent low back pain can be caused by osteoarthritis of the spine, while in younger people the joints may be affected by ankylosing spondylosis.

• Pain from compression of the nerve root can be due to a prolapsed disc or spondylosis exerting pressure on the spinal nerve. Back pain of this type may have a gradual or sudden onset and is often accompanied by sciatica, a disorder where severe pain shoots down the back of one or both legs.

• Back Pain may rarely come from the bone itself, for instance where cancer has spread to bone from a tumor elsewhere in the body.

• Conditions affecting the pelvic organs can cause pain in the lower back. Examples are pelvic inflammatory disease and kidney infections. Peptic ulcers and gallbladder disease can cause referred pain that is felt in the back.

Lower Back Pain Diagnosis

In most instances, a detailed history relating to your past health, present symptoms and physical activities, and a meticulous physical examination will be all that is required for the doctor to arrive at a conclusion.

Further investigations are generally not required and imaging studies do not contribute towards diagnosis in most episodes of low back pain. It's likely that you will be sent for tests only if the duration of pain has been longer than six weeks, if you have a history of injury to the back, or if your doctor suspects the presence of another underlying cause for the pain.

For suspected disc problems, X-rays or a CT scan may be required. An MRI may be needed to provide detailed information about the soft tissues in your back.