Causes & Symptoms

Back pain can be divided into serious and non-serious causes, both of which can be extremely painful.

Non-serious

The overwhelming majority of back pain is due to excess weight, poor posture and lifting technique combined with wear and tear of the joints around the back. This is made worse by carrying extra weight and a sedentary lifestyle. Spasm can also set in making the whole experience even more painful. This kind of back pain is often referred to as functional back pain.

In the young and middle aged, one of the intervertebral discs may pop out its contents and touch a nerve. This is known as a herniated disc and the individual presents with back pain shooting down the back of one or both legs like an electric shock. There may be associated weakness and numbness in the leg.

A deformity in the shape of the spine (scoliosis, exaggerated kyphosis or lordosis) may cause back pain due to the muscle imbalance.

Young athletes in sports that involve repeated back movement (e.g. bowling in cricket) my experience lower back pain due to a shift in the bones around the lower back.

Serious

If an intervertebral disc herniates in a particular way, it can interfere with the nerves that supply the bladder, bowels and genital area. This is known as cauda equina syndrome and is an emergency. It manifests as severe back pain with bilateral leg weakness, problems with bladder (self-wetting or unable to urinate), bowels (constipation or incontinence) and loss of sensation in the genital area.

Tumours or an infection in or around the back may present as severe, unrelenting back pain, even at night, and is often accompanied by other symptoms such as weight loss, loss of appetite, fever, nausea and malaise.