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Lower back pain

Lower back pain is a common musculoskeletal disorder affecting 80% of people at some point in their lives. In the United States it is the most common cause of job-related disability, a leading contributor to missed work, and the second most common neurological ailment — only headache is more common. It can be either acute, subacute or chronic in duration. With conservative measures, the symptoms of lower back pain typically show significant improvement within a few weeks from onset.
The low back, or lumbar area, serves a number of important functions for the human body. These functions include structural support, movement, and protection of certain body tissues. When we stand, the lower back is functioning to support the weight of the upper body. When we bend, extend, or rotate at the waist, the lower back is involved in the movement. Therefore, injury to the structures important for weight bearing, such as the bony spine, muscles, tendons, and ligaments, often can be detected when the body is standing erect or used in various movements.

Lower back pain is a symptom. Common causes of lower back pain involve disease or injury to the muscles, bones, and/or nerves of the spine. Common causes of low back pain (lumbar backache) include lumbar strain, nerve irritation, lumbar radiculopathy, bony encroachment, and conditions of the bone and joints. Each of these is reviewed below.

Pain in the lumbosacral area (lower part of the back) is the primary symptom of low back pain.

• The pain may radiate down the front, side, or back of your leg, or it may be confined to the low back.


• The pain may become worse with activity.


• Occasionally, the pain may be worse at night or with prolonged sitting such as on a long car trip.


• You may have numbness or weakness in the part of the leg that receives its nerve supply from a compressed nerve.

Lower back pain treatment very much depends on the precise cause of the low back pain. Moreover, each patient must be individually evaluated and managed in the context of the underlying background health status and activity level. Treatment of low back pain is optimally directed toward a diagnosed or suspected specific cause.