Back pain can have several causes. You could have short-term or acute back pain after an accident, a sports injury, or another type of injury. Long-term (or chronic) back pain lasts for a minimum of three months.
Common causes of chronic back pain include:
- Osteoarthritis: Cartilage in your spinal cord begins to break down, leading to symptoms such as swelling and pain.
- Age-related spinal degeneration: Discs in the back begin to lose their water content, which causes deterioration. You may experience burning pains, bone-on-bone pain, or numbness.
- Scoliosis: Side-to-side curvature of the spine that can be present from birth or develop over time. Symptoms include back pain, fatigue, and uneven shoulders and hip heights.
- Fibromyalgia: Pain throughout your body that is sometimes triggered by another event and often has no apparent cause. The pain may be dull, shooting, and ongoing on both sides of your body.
- Herniated disc: Tissue between the joints in your back comes out of place. Common symptoms of herniated discs include muscle weakness and arm and leg pain.
Acute and chronic back pain usually respond well to noninvasive therapy.