Most Common Back Pain Causes You can develop back pain for many reasons, but
some causes are more common than others.
Wear and tear on the bones that form your spine (called vertebrae), muscles, and other tissues in your back can occur due to aging or overuse, leading to aches and pains. Injuries from accidents, falls, and other forms of trauma are another common cause of back pain.
Others include autoimmune diseases that trigger chronic inflammation in your spine and other back structures. Back pain can also be a symptom of some diseases, such as cancer, or can be linked to certain infections.
Your back has three distinct regions, which you can think of as upper, middle, and lower.
While most of the major causes of back pain can affect all three regions, some causes of aches and stiffness strike more often in the lower back, while others tend to affect the middle and upper sections.
Upper Back Pain Causes The vertebrae in your upper back and neck form the cervical spine. Some common causes of upperback pain include:
Poor posture.
Your spine works best when you stand or sit up straight. Poor posture or slumping increases pressure on some joints and can irritate nerves, which can cause pain. Simply sitting or standing in one position for a long time can cause back pain, too.
While poor posture can affect your entire spine, some bad habits target the upper back.
For example, if you sit at a computer in a chair that’s too low and need to tilt your head upward to see the screen, a posture doctors call “poking chin,” you may develop pain in the upper back, as well as neck and shoulders.
Muscle strain and sprains. Every time you bend or twist, an elaborate network of muscles, tendons (bands of tissue that attach muscles to bones), and ligaments
(tissues that attach bone to bone) swing into action to manipulate your spine. Stretching or tearing one of these important tissues while exercising or trying to lift a heavy object, for example, can result in pain.
Muscle strain can happen anywhere in the back.
Spinal stenosis.
Your spinal canal is a cavity that runs through the spine and contains the spinal cord, which is nerve tissue that communicates messages back and forth from the brain to the rest of the body. Spinal stenosis occurs when this canal becomes too narrow.
While spinal stenosis can affect the upper back, it is a major problem in the lower back; read more about this common cause of back pain below.
Degenerative disk disease.
Your bony vertebrae are separated from one another with cushiony pads
of tissue called disks that act like shock absorbers. As you age, disks can shrink and dry up, causing them to become less effective, known as degeneration.
As your shock absorbers wear away, your vertebrae may grind against one another, causing pain.
Degenerative disk disease is common in the cervical spine and lower back.
How Accidents and Injuries Cause Back Pain
Car accidents, falls, muscle sprains, strains, and fractures can often cause back pain. Injuries can lead to some of the physical problems, but others can cause pain all on their own. Spine or vertebral fractures.
These can be caused by a direct blow to the back, a fall, or if you have osteoporosis,
a condition that weakens your bones. Sprains and strains. Injuries to ligaments, muscles, and tendons that support the spine and its joints can lead to back pain. This often happens when you lift something and twist at the same time. It can also
happen because of car accidents and sports injuries.
Spasms.
You can get these when muscles and tendons are torn in your lower back. They usually
happen when you’re weightlifting or playing sports. Other Back Pain Causes Back pain can also be caused by medical conditions, such as:
Arthritis.
This is a joint disease that causes stiffness, swelling, and inflammation. One common type is osteoarthritis, which happens when your cartilage and bones break down. This most often affects people from middle age onward. It also includes inflammatory
forms of arthritis, such as ankylosing spondylitis, which affects the joints and ligaments
along your spine.
Scoliosis (curvature of the spine). If you have this condition, you were likely born with it. If it causes pain, it typically starts in mid-life.
Pregnancy.
The weight you gain when you’re expecting can strain your back.
Tumors.
In rare cases, you may develop malignant tumors in your back, which are spread by a cancer that started somewhere else in your body.
Less common causes of back pain are:
• Kidney stones and infections
• Endometriosis, a buildup of uterine tissue outside the uterus
• Osteomyelitis or diskitis, infections in the bones and disks of the spine
• Fibromyalgia, a condition that causes widespread muscle pain
Depending on the cause of your pain, your treatment could include lifestyle changes, medication, or possibly surgery. Talk with your doctor if your back isn’t feeling right. They can help you discover what’s causing the hurt and can help you feel better.
Credit: webmd
