Chronic lower back pain

People who never experience back pain at least once during their entire life are extremely rare. It is pretty common for people to suffer from back pain every once in a while. In most cases, that back pain is stiffness and pain in the lower region of the back.

Types of back pain

There are two types of back pain and they are specific back pain and non-specific back pain. When specific back pain is considered, the pain is caused by some underlying health condition or even by damage to the spine.

In case of a non-specific back pain, the pain is not caused by some severe injury and a person has probably sprained or strained some muscle, had a minor injury. Even an irritated nerve can cause back pain and that cause is considered to be non-specific.Causes of specific back pain

There are several main causes of specific back pain. Sciatica is one of them and the pain is caused when the sciatic nerve is either irritated or compressed.

Slipped disc can also cause serious back pain. This situation occurs when the one of the spine discs splits and the gel leaks out.When the joints of the base of the spine get inflamed, a person will also experience back pain. This condition is known as ankylosing spondylitis.

Non-specific back pain

The duration of back pain a person will experience is also classified. A person can experience acute back pain and chronic back pain. Acute back pain last for no longer than 6 weeks, while chronic back pain lasts longer than that.

How common is back pain?

There is no one who is safe from back pain and both young and adults have suffered from it at least once. According to some researches, every fifth person goes to the hospital because of back pain at least once a year.

Acute back pain is more common than chronic pain, but chronic pain occurs quite often as well. Chronic back pain is the second most common cause of long-term disability in England. A certain research claims that one person out of ten suffers from chronic back pain. Both in England and the Western world, the cases of chronic back pain have doubled in the last 40 years. Some experts claim that the numbers are so high because there is also a lot more people who suffer from obesity, depression and stress.

Outlook

The amount of back pain and the duration of it are not the same with every person. Some people need less time to make a recovery than others. People need to know that psychological and social factors are very important in the whole chronic back pain situation.