Low Back Back Pain

Low back pain can be either an acute or chronic disabling condition. For many, it may be an ongoing condition that flares up occasionally for a few days or weeks, then becomes more manageable again. It will affect most adults at some stage in their life and accounts for more sick leave taken than any other single condition.

An acute lower back injury may be caused by a traumatic event, like a car accident or a fall. It occurs suddenly and its victims will usually be able to pinpoint exactly when it happened. In acute cases, the structures damaged will more than likely be soft tissue like muscles, ligaments and tendons. With a serious accident, vertebral fractures in the lumbar spine may also occur. At the lowest end of the spine, some patients may have tailbone pain (also called coccyx pain or coccydynia).

Chronic lower back pain usually has a more insidious onset, occurring over a long period of time. Physical causes may include osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, degeneration of the discs between the vertebrae, or a spinal disc herniation, a vertebral fracture (such as from osteoporosis), or rarely, a tumor (including cancer) or infection. The cause may also be psychological or emotional, and can be diagnosed as TMS or tension myositis syndrome.

Causes

Possible causes of low back pain:

   Mechanical:

• Apophyseal osteoarthritis
• Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis
• Degenerative Discs
• Scheuermann's kyphosis
• Spinal disc herniation
• Spinal stenosis
• Spondylolisthesis and other congenital abnormalities
• Fractures
• Non-specific muscular or ligamentous strains or sprains
• Leg Length Difference
• Restricted hip motion
• Misaligned pelvis

  Inflammatory:

• Seronegative spondylarthritides (e.g. ankylosing spondylitis)
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Infection

   Neoplastic:

• Bone tumors (primary or metastatic)
• Intradural Spinal tumors

   Metabolic:

• Osteoporotic fractures
• Osteomalacia
• Ochronosis
• Chondrocalcinosis
• Paget's disease

   Referred pain:

• Pelvic/abdominal disease
• Posture
• Tension myositis syndrome
• Depression

Diagnosis

Diagnosing the underlying cause of low back pain is usually done by a medical doctor or by a chiropractor. Often, getting a diagnosis of the underlying cause of low back pain and/or related symptoms, such as sciatica, is quite complex. A complete diagnosis is usually made through a combination of a patient's medical history, physical examination, and, when necessary, diagnostic testing, such as an MRI scan or x-ray.

Treatments

The course of treatment for low back pain will usually be dictated by the diagnosis of the underlying cause of the pain. For the vast majority of patients, low back pain can be treated with non-surgical care.

Don’t live life in pain. You do not have to!

Genesis Chiropractic Clinic
Chiropractors serving the Greater Philadelphia Region
Suite 6, 801 County Line Road • Horsham, Pennsylvania 19044

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