What is low back pain?

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Low back pain is pain felt in the lumbar spine, which is the part of your back below the ribcage and above your buttocks. Low back pain can start in many ways. You may simply wake up with pain for no apparent reason. You may notice it when you twist, bend over, or lift something. Low back pain may also occur after exercise, after a fall, or after an accident.

A disturbance in any of the many components of the lumbar spine can trigger low back pain felt throughout the lower back. The disturbance might be in the vertebrae, discs, spinal nerves, facet joints, muscles, ligaments, or tendons, but the pain won’t tell you where. That’s because pain signals coming from these components overlap in the brain. The body is simply unable to locate the exact source of the pain. As a result, the brain interprets the pain as coming from the entire low back. The pain signal is just the body’s way of telling us there is a disturbance somewhere in the lumbar spine.

Doctors usually can’t pinpoint the precise source of low back pain, even with X-rays, MRI, or other advanced tests. Fortunately, it usually isn’t necessary to do so because the same initial treatments are recommended regardless of the source of pain. No matter how the pain started and no matter which component triggered the initial pain signal, the same approach to treatment is required in almost all instances.

Pain in the low back can be quite intense, and it’s sometimes frightening to experience. That’s why it’s important to know that the low back is very durable. Most people who get low back pain feel better within a few weeks. Despite the way it feels, the amount of pain is usually not an indication of any serious damage to the body or any other major medical problem.

Low back pain is the second most common medical complaint reported to doctors. Only the common cold affects more people. At any given time, about 1 in 4 adults have low back pain lasting at least one day. Since more than 90% of people will experience low back pain at some point in their lives, it’s very difficult to say exactly what puts people at risk. Some research has shown that genetics, stress, smoking, obesity, poor general health, overuse of the back, lack of exercise, and heavy or frequent manual labor are possible risk factors. These risk factors can all contribute to low back pain. The simple answer is that all of us are at risk for low back pain and most of us can count on having it at some point in our lives.

 
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