Lower Back Pain Causes: What Your Doctors Can't Tell You

Lower back pain causes can be pretty confusing to a lot of people who suffer from this condition. "Do I have bulging discs?", "Do I have arthritis?", Or, more frightening, "Do I have cancer?" Are several of the questions that often come to mind when someone has pain in the lower back that comes on for no apparent reason.

One thing for sure is that most doctors can actually tell you if you have any of the conditions above by doing tests like x-rays or an MRI. But did you know that less than 5% of all painful low back cases are due to serious problems that require surgery or chemotherapy?

That's right. Over 95% of lower back pain causes are because of "non-serious" conditions that don't require surgery or other complicated medical management. That means that in most cases your doctor may send you home with a prescription for pain medication and tell you to "rest" your back until the problems decrease.

Although most doctors may realize that your pain is coming from muscle(s) strains, what they won't be able to tell you is which muscles are strained and what you can do about them. This is because most doctors don't have the kind of time to spend with you that will help you understand exactly what's going on with your back.

This is why it would be beneficial for anyone with back pain to have a good understanding of how various muscles can affect your back and what to do about it when they do.

You may not be aware of it, but, many of the muscles that can really contribute to a lot of these problems aren't located in your low back at all. Some people will give you the impression that it's your stomach muscles that will cause a lot of back pain. But this is not 100% accurate either.

Your leg, hip, and internal pelvis muscles will all affect how your back feels and functions. Many times it's a combination of several muscle groups that cause a sort of "domino effect" and give you the feeling that something is seriously wrong with your back and cause a lot of confusion about where your pain is actually coming from.

You may know of someone who has back pain and have gone through several of the tests to find the cause. They've had an MRI study done. They've had x-rays done. They have gone through all the lab tests. And, their doctor says that all the tests are "negative". What this means is that the tests didn't find anything significant that could be causing the painful problem.

This happens to 1000s of people everyday. They know that they have back pain, but their doctors tell them that they can find no reason for it. Sometimes people leave the doctor's office feeling like the problem is "all in their heads".

This is unfortunate because what people aren't told is that "muscle strains" don't show up on any test. You heard me right. You could have muscles that are tied in a huge knot and they won't show up on any test. But many doctor's fail to tell their patients this simple fact.

If you or someone you know have had the experience of having negative test results for your lower back discomfort, but it continues to bother you, it may be helpful if you asked your doctor about which muscles might be causing your problems. A good physical therapist could also help answer these types of questions.

Remember, over 95% of most back pain cases are due to low back pain causes that are not serious.