Lower Back Pain Causes – Helpful Info and Tips

There are many lower back pain causes. These include nerve irritation, lumbar strain, bony encroachment, lumbar radiculopathy, and some other joints and bone conditions. Each of these lower back pain causes is reviewed in this article.

1. Irritation in the nerves

Nerve irritation is one of the common lower back pain causes. The lumbar spine nerves can easily be irritated by any disease anywhere along the nerves’ paths, from the roots of the spinal cord to the surface skin. This condition causes radiculopathy or lumbar disc disease, nerve inflammation, and bony encroachment.

2. Lumbar Strain

A lumbar strain is also one of most common lower back pain causes. It is the stretching injury to the tendons, ligaments of low back muscles. The incidents of stretching often lead to varying degrees of microscopic tears in these tissues. The injury occurs because of improper use, overuse, or trauma. There are two types of lumbar strain: acute and chronic. Acute lumbar strain means the pain it cause has been present only for days to a few weeks while it is considered chronic of it lasts for longer than three months.

3. Bony Encroachment

Bony encroachment, one of the common lower back pain causes, is the result of any growth or movement of the lumbar spine vertebrae that limits the encroachment or space for the adjacent nerves and spinal cord. Bony encroachment is caused by foraminal narrowing, spondylolisthesis, and spinal stenosis. These conditions often lead to sciatica pain that runs down the lower portion of the body. Spinal stenosis causes pains in the lower extremity, which can be worse with walking activities and can be better by resting. Treatment of these conditions can vary depending on how severe the condition and can range from resting to surgical decompression done by removing the bone that compresses nervous tissue.

4. Lumbar Radiculopathy

Lumbar radiculopathy is defined as the nerve irritation caused by damages that occurred in the vertebrae discs. The damages occur because of a traumatic injury, or wear and tear or the degeneration of the disc’s outer ring, or both. Consequently, the softer central portion of the disc can be herniated or ruptured through the disc’s outer ring and next to the spinal cord. This rupture is the main cause of the sciatica pain that runs down through the leg.

5. Joint and Bone Conditions

Joint and bone conditions are also common lower back pain causes. These conditions include congenital injury, degenerative injury, or injuries caused by the inflammation of joints (arthritis). Congenital injuries or bone conditions include spina bifida and scoliosis. Degenerative joint and bone conditions result from the changes in our body’s cartilage. One of the common degenerative joint and bone conditions is called spondylosis, or the narrowing of the normal space between the vertebrae. Other joint and bone conditions include fractures and arthritis.

The lower back pain causes mentioned and discussed above are just some of the many factors causing lower back pain. If you’ve been experiencing pain in your lower back, visit your physician right away so your doctor can devise an effective treatment plan for your lower back pain.