Five Common Causes of Lower Back Pain

pain in the back

Back pain can be disruptive to a person’s daily life. In its mildest form, it can cause discomfort regardless of whether a person is sitting, standing, or lying down. At its worst, lower back pain can be debilitating and leaves a person requiring medication unable to do important tasks such as attending work.

One of the hardest parts of coping with chronic back pain is determining the cause of its origin. Back pain can occur for a number of reasons, and depending on its cause, it may be short-term or chronic and long-lasting in nature. Most of the time using lower back pain relief products can help you get relief from pain, but if the problem persists you may have to seek the help of professionals.

When to Seek Help for Your Lower Back Pain

While minor pains may be temporary or manageable, it’s important not to ignore back pain that you find is worsening over time or is disruptive to your daily life. If you find yourself requiring pain medication to manage your pain, you should seek a healthcare professional. If you live in Canada and are wondering “where can I find a Vancouver physiotherapist near me?”, there are many through online methods who may be able to help you with your lower back pain; but first, it might help if you can identify your type of pain to help better describe it to your specialist. Below are five common causes of lower back pain.

Strain

Strains within the back muscles or spinal ligaments are one of the most common causes of lower back pain. A strain is caused by a sudden wrong movement, repetitive motions like lifting, lifting a heavy object incorrectly, or bending yourself in a stressful way.

Doing any activities can cause a strain to form, causing pain, discomfort, and spasms within the lower back. In most cases, a strain will resolve itself as long as it is not severe. However, more severe strains, or those caused by repetitive yet unavoidable work-related tasks, can cause more permanent damage.

Ruptured, Bulging, or Herniated Discs

Between the bones of your vertebrae, there are connective tissues, more commonly known as discs. If a disc becomes damaged or ruptured, the pressure can cause severe and acute pain on the nearby nerve. 

A disc injury is often caused by gradual wear and tear as we age, known as disc degeneration. This becomes more common the older a person is due to the disc becoming less malleable and more susceptible to injury from more minor strains.

spinal back pain

Scoliosis

Scoliosis is a condition that affects 2-3 percent of people. With scoliosis, the vertebrae deviate from a straight line and instead curves to one side. In more severe cases, the deviation can even twist in shape. Scoliosis can worsen over the years, cause damage to a person’s joints, and ultimately cause spinal arthritis, known as osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis affects millions of people worldwide and is one of the most commonly experienced forms of arthritis. Osteoarthritis occurs when the cushion of protective cartilage around your bones wears down, causing the bones to rub on each other.

Those with osteoarthritis can experience pain, stiffness, tenderness, swelling, and more. Worse still, osteoarthritis is a degenerative condition that can worsen over time.

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a condition where the bone density within the mouth gradually becomes weakened and porous. This causes the bones to become fragile and more susceptible to spinal damage and compression fractures.

What can make osteoporosis so tricky to spot is that a person may not notice any symptoms until the condition has already progressed to the point of breakage.