A wide range of people especially between the age group of 35-55 years suffer from the problem of back pain. It is among the most common medical problems. It is necessary to understand the cause of your back pain for its proper treatment. Sometimes the problem of back pain is very difficult to treat so understanding the cause of the problem will help the patient in their recovery from back pain. In some cases the pain of the back may be severe and besides taking rests and all the precautionary steps the patient must contact to a doctor. The most common causes of lower back pain are sprains and strains.

Strains

The rip or tear of the muscles of the lumbar spine, despite their size and strength is called a muscle "strain". Usually a strain is the result of a sudden force or a heavy load which is applied to the muscles before they are ready for activity. Within the muscle tissue, the muscle essentially rips along with the blood vessels. This may result into bleeding in the injured area. After 2-3 hours it produces pain. This tear in the muscle tissue is followed by certain symptoms like pain, swelling and muscle spasms.

Sprains

It is associated with the over-stretching of one or more of the ligaments of the back. In this condition, the ligaments can be stretched beyond their natural integrity and in some cases they are completely tear. In some cases especially in motor vehicle accidents, both ligament sprains as well as muscle strains occur together.

There are some other causes also which result into the problem of back pain.

Disc Injury

In this condition the disc bulges out from between two vertebrae. This condition is known as herniated disc as well as slipped disc. There are four types of disc herniation

1. Disc bulge or protrusion
2. Disc prolapsed
3. Disc extrusion
4. Sequestrateddisc

Spinal Stenosis

It is related with the narrowing of the spinal canal. It usually affects the people above the age of 50 years.

Osteoarthritis of the Spine

It is associated with the damage that causes wear and tear of the joints. It may affect single or many joints of the spine.

Spondylolisthesis

It is a condition in which one vertebra slips forward on the one beneath it. This condition may be due to many reasons like trauma to the spine or osteoarthritis of the spine or it may have been acquired from birth.

Some more causes are ankylosing spondylitis, osteoporosis and fractures of the lumbar spine, pregnancy and fibromyalgia.