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The causes of lower back pain are varied and can include muscle strain, herniated disc, poor posture, spinal stenosis, and inflamed or damaged facet joints in the spinal column. The lower back is also known as the lumbar spine area. This is the part of the spine that starts below the chest and curves slightly inward until connecting to the pelvis.
Lower back pain often can be addressed with a heating pad, over-the-counter pain relievers and lifestyle adjustments. If your pain persists for more than a week or two, interrupts your sleep or prevents you from participating in daily activities, it’s time to see a health care provider to consider your lower back pain causes, how to get relief and how to prevent any further damage to your body.
While surgery is a last resort for lower back pain, you likely will visit with a spine surgeon who has the experience and expertise to know which conditions require surgery and which can be addressed with anti-inflammatory pain relief, physical therapy or other nonsurgical treatments.
If you’re ready to seek relief for your lower back pain, contact your primary care provider or a visit a Norton Leatherman Spine Back & Neck Pain Clinic. No referral is needed to see a back and neck pain clinic provider.
Neck and back pain making things uncomfortable? Complete our Back and Neck Pain Assessment to see if it’s time to see a Norton Leatherman Spine provider.
Neck and back clinic providers are available Monday through Friday and typically see patients within three business days. A visit to the Norton Leatherman Spine Back & Neck Pain Clinic starts with determining the cause of your pain. Your first appointment will include a plan for pain relief.
Seek emergency care if you experience:
Treatment options for low back pain can vary, depending on the underlying cause, the severity of the pain and individual health factors. Generally, it’s best to start with a conservative approach before turning to more invasive interventions and medications.
Anti-inflammatories and other pain medications can provide relief for acute or chronic pain, but come with varying degrees of risk. Working with your primary care provider, spine specialist or pain management physician, seek the right balance between your need for pain relief and related risks.
Seeing a spine surgeon doesn’t mean you’re signing up for spine surgery. Spine surgeons have comprehensive experience treating low back pain and will look for conservative options before recommending spine surgery. Their advanced training makes them uniquely positioned to know which cases would benefit from spine surgery and which aren’t worth the risks.
Norton Leatherman Spine specialists take a comprehensive approach to evaluation and treatment. Our premier spine center team of neurosurgeons and orthopedic spine surgeons works together on complicated cases involving the spine’s intermingled complex of bone, soft tissue and nerves.
If your condition requires surgery, we offer minimally invasive and robotic-assisted procedures that carry less risk and can speed your recovery. Norton Leatherman Spine surgeons are actively involved in the development of next-generation minimally invasive technologies such as robotic-assisted procedures.
The long-term treatment for lower back pain will be driven by its cause. While muscle strain can be treated with rest that allows the muscles to heal, other causes can affect the spinal cord and related nerves that start in the spinal column and reach out to the extremities.
Muscles, tendons or ligaments in the lumbar spine area can become stretched or torn. The result can be pain, stiffness or shooting pains in your back. You also may notice pain in your buttocks or legs. Pain may get worse when bending or stretching or even coughing or sneezing. Depending on the severity of the strain, you should start feeling better in a matter of days. Ice for up to 30 minutes three or four times per day will help with the inflammation and any swelling. After a few days, heat can help relieve pain, along with over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications.
Prevent reinjury by exercising, especially with any specific back exercises recommended by a medical professional. Avoid bending or twisting at the waist by bending at the hips or knees. When lifting, keep the weight close to your body and don’t overdo it. When sitting, keep your lower back supported, perhaps with the help of a rolled up towel.
A herniated disc refers to a bulge from the spongy discs that sit between each vertebra and encircle the spinal cord like a doughnut. If the bulge presses on the spinal column or some of the many nerves running through the spinal canal or vertebrae, the result can be significant pain, including sciatica.
Sciatica pain starts in the lumbar spine, or lower back, area and radiates down one buttock and the back of the thigh. The pain can be sharp and burning or a mild ache. The pain is often described as shooting and sometimes causes numbness and muscle weakness. Typically, the cause is a herniated disc pressing on the sciatic nerve.
This condition results from a narrowing of the spinal canal in the lower back. The result is compression on nerves that causes pain, numbness or weakness in the legs, back or buttocks. Symptoms can include difficulty walking, leg cramps and tingling. Treatment ranges from physical therapy and pain management to surgery.
Wear and tear on the lower spine can contribute to developing arthritis. Cartilage, typically in the facet joints between vertebrae bones, can deteriorate and lead to inflammation and pain. Thinner discs between vertebrae also can put more pressure on the facet joints, damaging cartilage.
A common result of arthritis in the spine is lumbar spondylolisthesis, where one vertebra slips forward over the vertebra below it.
Scoliosis can develop in adults as a result of deterioration of the spine. The spine develops a side-to-side S- or C-curve.
Sometimes the facet joints between vertebrae develop arthritis. The degeneration usually begins after age 40 and in women is often related to osteoporosis.
NSAIDs like ibuprofen and naproxen can reduce swelling and relieve pain. Exercises to strengthen the abdomen and back muscles can provide needed support, and temporary braces can ease pain. Epidurals or nerve block injections also can provide temporary pain relief.
If nonsurgical efforts don’t provide relief for disabling back or leg pain, surgery may help. Options include laminectomy to remove part of the vertebra bone to relive spinal cord pressure, minimally invasive surgery to remove some of the disc that is pressing on nerves and spinal fusion to join two vertebrae together.
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