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Causes of Back Ache

It's simple, it's a slip or strain, its stiff or a trapped nerve causing your pain.

You thought jelly comes in a bowl for eating? Well yes, but you also need it to be the centrepiece for your discs.

PUT SIMPLY

Backache is labelled as 'simple' if the pain is triggered by a mechanical source of some sort. Bang! You've got pain arising from the bony part of your spine or the muscles attached to it. And boy, is it painful! The pain may spread in a general way down to one or both of your hips, thighs and legs. The difference between simple backache and other types of back pain is that your lumbar or sciatic nerve roots or the spinal cord are not compressed.

People who suffer from simple backache are usually between 20 to 55 years old, and are otherwise generally healthy. Their pain is in the small of their back, buttocks and thighs. Their symptoms vary depending on what physical activities they're doing and the time of day (for example, they often get worse just before it's time to do the washing up).

SLIPPED DISC

A slipped disc can be caused by poor posture, a jarring accident or lifting something incorrectly. The jelly-like centre of the intervertebral disc can be forced through the outer rings of the disc because of the excessive vertical pressure on your spine. Putting more pressure on the front of a disc pushes the jelly backwards (though sideways slippage of the jelly can sometimes occur). This can happen when you're sitting or standing for long periods with your lumbar spine flattened, instead of maintaining it with the correct curve. Lifting a weight by bending forwards similarly puts strain on the front of the disc. The force causing the slipped disc may also damage ligaments of your spine, facet joints of your vertebrae and nearby muscles.

The 'slipped' disc then presses on your nerve roots as they emerge from your spinal canal, giving you pain and muscle spasm. You'll feel this as pain or pins and needles along the path of the particular nerve, which could be in your buttock, thigh or foot.

Slipped discs are also known as herniated, ruptured or prolapsed discs.

NERVE ROOT PAIN ++

A trapped nerve is usually caused by the prolapse or slipping of an intervertebral disc, narrowing the spinal canal where the nerves pass through, or from scarring caused by previous surgery. The pain from the trapped nerve root passes along the site that the nerve travels down, to the ending of that strand of nerve at your skin.

Sciatic pain follows the left or right branch of the sciatic nerve from your lumbar-sacral spine at the bottom of your back to shoot down to your thigh, knee or foot on the same side of your body. This is sciatica, and won't you know it. Sometimes you can lose sensation around the same area, get pins and needles or tingling, or your muscles become weaker. The ligaments in your spine may be damaged, too, or you may get muscle spasm, making your back feel stiff or even 'locked' so that you can barely move.

SACRO-ILIAC STRAIN AND STIFFNESS

The ligaments or joints on each side of your sacrum can also be strained. Women are more prone to this during pregnancy, when their ligaments have become lax in readiness for giving birth. Gymnasts develop loose and supple joints too. Your sacro-iliac joints can become inflamed in various conditions such as ankylosing spondylitis, which may involve all the vertebrae of your low back.

SOMETHING NASTY

It's rare, but back pain could be the first you know about an infection or a tumour. If a tumour does grow in your spine it has usually spread there from somewhere else in your body, and you'll probably have other symptoms, such as weight loss, loss of appetite, tiredness and feeling unwell. Infections in the spine usually only occur in people who are susceptible to infection, such as diabetics, or those who misuse drugs or alcohol.


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