What is back pain & what causes it?

The low back is an amazing construction of bones, muscles, and ligaments.

The back has to satisfy two competing requirements, the need for strength/stability and the need for mobility/movement.

Overall our low backs do a tremendous job coping with all the stresses we put on them, and are well adapted to this job.

However, we do put unnatural demands on our backs, such as sitting for long periods or indulging in sport. Along with the injuries we collect through life, and the time which goes by, changes occur in the structures of the back which contribute to pain problems.

The lower back is the hinge between the upper and lower parts of the body and it has to cope with the weight of the upper body in all its movements. When we are lifting, reaching, bending or twisting, large forces are transmitted through the back.

It’s usually not until back pain strikes us that we suddenly realise how important it is. One minute everything is fine, next minute every movement we try to perform causes severe pain. Our strong and flexible back suddenly seems to have gone off somewhere. Mostly we give our back and its needs no attention until it demands our attention by going wrong. Then it’s mostly too late.

Around 85% of all people have back pain at some time in their lives. It is very difficult to give a good diagnosis for anyone’s back pain, but it is thought to be caused by a combination of injury, time, overdoing, and overstrain to the discs, muscles and ligaments of the spine. Back pain can be caused by serious illnesses or spinal deformity, but this is uncommon.

Back pain can be classified by the time it has been present:

• Acute back pain, which lasts less than 3 months. Many people recover rapidly and the problem resolves.
• Recurrent back pain, where repeated episodes of acute symptoms occur. Once you’ve had one episode of back pain it is common to have recurrent episodes at times.
• Chronic back pain is generally defined as lasting longer than 3 months. It can be mildly troublesome or totally disabling. When it is disabling, it is not the same as acute back pain which lasts longer, but something completely different.

In reality, back pain does not always fit neatly into these categories, but it gives us a start in trying to figure out the kind of problem a person has and what to do about it.