Your Las Vegas Chiropractor

Lower back pain causes such as nerve irritation, lumbar radiculopathy, bony encroachment, lumbar strain, and joints and bone conditions are some of the reasons you feel pain in your lower back. All these lower back pain causes will be discussed in this article.

1. Nerve Irritation

Nerve irritation is one of the common lower back pain causes. The lumbar spine nerves can easily be irritated by any disease anywhere along the nerves’ paths, from the roots of the spinal cord to the surface skin. This condition causes radiculopathy or lumbar disc disease, nerve inflammation, and bony encroachment.

2. Lumbar Strain

Being one of lower back pain causes, a lumbar strain can be very painful as it is the result of a stretching injury that occurred in the lower back muscle ligaments and tendons, thereby causing different degrees of microscopic degeneration in the affected tissues. This condition is often caused by trauma, overuse, or improper use. Lumbar strain is classified into two types: acute lumbar strain which means that the lower back pain has been felt by the patient for days or weeks while chronic lumbar strain has been felt for more than three months already.

3. Bony Encroachment

Bony encroachment, one of the common lower back pain causes, is the result of any growth or movement of the lumbar spine vertebrae that limits the encroachment or space for the adjacent nerves and spinal cord. Bony encroachment is caused by foraminal narrowing, spondylolisthesis, and spinal stenosis. These conditions often lead to sciatica pain that runs down the lower portion of the body. Spinal stenosis causes pains in the lower extremity, which can be worse with walking activities and can be better by resting. Treatment of these conditions can vary depending on how severe the condition and can range from resting to surgical decompression done by removing the bone that compresses nervous tissue.

4. Lumbar Radiculopathy

Lumbar radiculopathy is defined as the nerve irritation caused by damages that occurred in the vertebrae discs. The damages occur because of a traumatic injury, or wear and tear or the degeneration of the disc’s outer ring, or both. Consequently, the softer central portion of the disc can be herniated or ruptured through the disc’s outer ring and next to the spinal cord. This rupture is the main cause of the sciatica pain that runs down through the leg.

5. Joint and Bone Conditions

Joint and bone conditions are also common lower back pain causes. These conditions include congenital injury, degenerative injury, or injuries caused by the inflammation of joints (arthritis). Congenital injuries or bone conditions include spina bifida and scoliosis. Degenerative joint and bone conditions result from the changes in our body’s cartilage. One of the common degenerative joint and bone conditions is called spondylosis, or the narrowing of the normal space between the vertebrae. Other joint and bone conditions include fractures and arthritis.

The abovementioned lower back pain causes are just a few of the many other causes of lower back pain. Consulting your doctor about any of the known lower back pain symptoms will greatly help you come up with a perfect treatment plan for your condition.