To call low back pain common is an understatement. On a global scale, low back pain is the leading cause of disability. Closer to home, nearly 40% of adults in the United States report recent back pain.
In total, research suggests that back pain has a prevalence of about 84%, meaning there aren’t many people who dodge this bullet. And most of this problem develops in the lower back, which is the most active area of your spine, along with your neck.
At Johnston Pain Management, our highly experienced team is well aware of just how widespread back pain is — it’s one of the biggest reasons people visit us for help.
While we offer great solutions for back pain, the first order of business is to figure out what’s causing it. With that as our goal, we review a few of the more common culprits behind low back pain below.
Your spine is made up of 33 vertebrae that are separated by 23 intervertebral discs, which provide cushioning, support, and range of motion in your spine.
These discs feature a tough outer layer (annulus fibrosus) and a soft, jelly-like interior (nucleus pulposus). With age and natural degeneration, the outer layer of these discs can lose moisture, becoming more brittle and more prone to damage.
Also called degenerative disc disease (DDD), this issue tends to develop in areas of your back where discs work the hardest, namely your low back and neck.
DDD can lead to painful low back issues like disc herniation and sciatica, which affects between 10% and 40% of people.
Disc-related low back issues are fairly easy to identify because they often lead to local and radiating symptoms that follow the nerves and travel down into your legs.
Another common road to low back pain is lumbar spinal stenosis, which affects about 11% of older adults in the US.
With lumbar spinal stenosis, there’s a narrowing in your spinal canal, often due to thickening ligaments. This narrowing can irritate nerve roots and fibers, leading to back pain that often relieves when you hunch or lean forward.
Many people haven’t heard of sacroiliac (SI) joint dysfunction, even though the condition is behind between 15% and 30% of cases of low back pain.
Your lower back has two SI joints that connect your sacrum to your hip bones. If these joints are too tight or too loose, it can lead to pain in your lower back, hip area, and groin.
One of the most common low back issues is muscle strain from overuse or overextension.
The list above includes only the most common causes of low back pain; there are others. To properly identify what’s going on in your back, it’s an excellent idea to see us for an evaluation.
Through symptom evaluation and imaging, we can identify the source of your discomfort and get you on the road to relief straight away.
To set that in motion and move again without low back pain, please contact us at one of our conveniently located offices in Jacksonville, Hampstead, or New Bern, North Carolina, to schedule a consultation.
