Lower Back Pain Causes

Almost every family has been suffering from lower back pain and they all have to handle it. But what really causes this irritating pain? The causes of lower back pain can actually range from a normal strain to complicated conditions like bony encroachment, lumbar strain, lumbar radiculopathy, nerve irritation and other discomforts that are related to joints and bones.

Once you visit a doctor, he or she will explain three categories of lower back pain. Your lower back pain may be categorized in one of these:

Axial Lower Back Pain

This kind of back pain is quite mechanical and simple and it is the most common type of all back pains. It does not move into the buttocks, feet, legs or in other areas of the body. It also varies from sharp or dull pain, intermittent pain, and even mild to severe pain. It is usually characterized from doing certain activities such as sports or certain body positions such as prolonged sitting.

Radicular Lower Back Pain

This type of back pain is also known as the sciatica condition. The pain starts from the hips, buttocks, and down to the leg. The term sciatica refers to the sciatic nerve, which travels from the lower back through the buttocks and into the leg, is the main cause of the pain. When one of the herniated lumber discs compressed one of the sciatic nerves, damage to the discs occurs. This may be caused by the wear and tear of the outer ring of the disc or traumatic injury, or even both. This is called lumbar radiculopathy.

Lower Back Pain with Referred Pain

The pain from referred pain usually begins in the low back area and heightens in the buttocks, groins and thighs. Though the pain can move around, it does not involve the knee area. This can be due to an injury or axial lower back pain itself. The pain can also range from mild or severe, migratory and dull.

Nerve Irritation

This type is one of the least common types of lower back pain. The nerves in the lumbar spine become irritated by the mechanical impingement or illness along the pats through the roots of the spinal cord to the skin surface. It may also include lumbar disc disease or radiculopathy, body encroachment, and inflammation of the nerves due to shingles or an unpopular kind of viral infection. Lumbar radiculopathy is related to nerve irritation. The wear and tear of the discs can be caused by lifting heavy objects or trauma. Doing an X-ray examination test is needed in order to see all the bone abnormalities if there are any.

Body Encroachment

This type of lower body pain is due to the development of the vertebrae of the lumbar spine which limits the space between the nerves and the adjacent spinal cord. This is also related to sciatica pain which can flow into the lower extremities.  Usually this can be cured depending on the severity of the conditions. A person who experiences this can undergo surgical procedure or decompression where the bone that invades the nerves is removed.

Other causes of lower back pain include joint and bone conditions like spina bifida and scoliosis. This may be due to degenerative process or injury or just the normal swelling of joints or arthritis.

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