Some of the Most Common Causes of Lower Back Pain and Injury

Over the course of their lives, the vast majority of people will experience back pain and discomfort. While many people will only have acute pain lasting a few hours, days, or weeks at the most, others will suffer from chronic lower back discomfort. This can make major part of their lives uncomfortable, from sitting down to engaging in different types of physical activities. There are a number of common causes of back pain, some of which people are more susceptible to in their early decades of life, and others which they are more at risk of getting and can create painful conditions as they get older.

Many times, neck pain is also present in certain back pain sufferers. The small vertebral bones of the neck are just as easily injured as the bones and connective tissues of the spine. In fact, muscle strain and sprained ligaments are tow of the most common causes of back pain. It is somewhat commonplace to lift too heavy a load and damage back muscles, or sit for too long in one position and overload the endurance capacities of the muscles to support the spine. Ligaments, when they are sprained or stretched beyond their normal limits, can lead to severe pain that does not go away for many months.

Herniating one (or more) of the discs in between the vertebrae is also a common back injury, although younger people are more at risk of this than people in their 50s and older. The discs are a bit stiffer and have more fluid content in younger people, which creates the higher risk of herniation. As people age, the risk of herniating a disc decreases, but the incidence of conditions such as fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis is much higher. Aging causes the joints to lose cartilage, which causes the bones to rub against each other. Obviously, if this occurs in the back, serious pain may result.

Serious infections can also lead to back pain, such as arthritis that becomes infected or a spinal abscess. Tumors in the vertebrae or spinal cord will also lead to discomfort and injury. And obviously, any kind of trauma, fracture, or breaking of bone can easily result in pain. Spinal cord compression can also cause pain in the back, as the discs lose their ability to create the normal space in between each vertebra, and the range of motion of the spinal cord itself is decreased as a result. In fact, compression of the spinal nerve can lead to more serious causes of pain such as sciatica.

The treatments for many of these causes of back pain involve rest, reducing the pain through oral or topical pain relievers, and building up the muscles of the back to be able to withstand the demands of the body. With each disorder, various treatments may be appropriate, and it can take months or years for a back to heal completely. Building muscle endurance and managing pain are two of the most important ways to treat any kind of back pain, so these should be what many sufferers focus on as they are recovering from a back injury.