5 Reasons Why Your Back Hurts

Back pain is no fun at all. Mild back pain is annoying, but you can usually ignore and get on with your daily routine. Moderate back pain is more difficult to ignore and may require a product from Spinal Back Rack for extra support when driving and during day to day life. Severe back pain is impossible to ignore and can make life extremely difficult.
Stress or Injury

Most mild to moderate back pain is caused by a stress related injury. A lot of people treat their back as a hinge joint. They lift heavy boxes or twist awkwardly to carry a heavy bag of shopping. The trouble is, our back is not designed to function in this way and more often than not, we end up with a strained back.

Poor posture, an old mattress or lifting heavy items are all common causes of back problems. Luckily, in most cases, the pain will subside within a couple of weeks and we can get back to normal, no harm done.

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is very common in post-menopausal women. Bones become brittle in later life, usually as a result of hormonal changes and reduced levels of oestrogen. However, a Vitamin D or calcium deficiency will also lead to lower bone density. Unfortunately, osteoporosis is not always detected until it is too late and the spine has started to compress, leading to back pain.

Arthritis

Degenerative arthritis, which causes stiffness and pain in the spinal area, develops very slowly, but inflammatory arthritis may come on more suddenly. If this is the cause of your back pain, you will wake up with a stiff, painful back, and may have other symptoms such as excessive tiredness, a stiff neck, and psoriasis.

Kidney Infection

Kidney infections can be incredibly painful, but the pain travels around to the back area and lower abdomen. If a kidney infection is responsible for your back pain it will be painful to pass urine, your urine may be tinged with blood and it will probably smell very unpleasant.

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is characterised by localised pain all over the body. Back pain is just one symptom; you will almost certainly have pain in other parts of your body such as the elbow and knee joints. People with fibromyalgia tend to feel abnormally tired all the time, too, so instead of waking up refreshed and ready to face the day, they just want to sleep.

This is not an exhaustive list. Other causes of back pain include disc degeneration, which can be incredibly painful, and spinal stenosis, which is a narrowing of the spinal canal.

In most cases, back pain can be explained by injury of disease. However, back pain does not always originate in the back and can be referred pain from other nearby body structures. If your back pain is persistent and you have unexplained weight loss or any other strange symptoms, it is worth making an appointment to see your GP as soon as possible. It is rare, but sometimes back pain is caused by cancer that has metastased from somewhere else in the body.