After headaches, the most common ailment in the US is lower back pain and it affects 80% of all people at one moment or another in their life. However the good news is that it is also one of the easiest to cure ailments. Most of the times, it will go away with just a simple symptomatic treatment. That means physicians can determine the cause of the pain just by interviewing the patient and talking about the possible traumas that he or she has been through during the past days. And based on those causes the doctor can prescribe a muscle relaxant, a massage or, for more problematic cases some physical therapy sessions.

1. A Muscle or Soft Tissue Strain

The most common and also the most benign reason for lower back pain is a muscle or soft tissue strain. The problem is usually very easy to diagnose if it is the case of a muscle strain because most patient will easily remember that they have done some very heavy lifting or some other form of physical exercises without a proper warm up. However, besides the muscles the back also has soft tissue which is easier to traumatize and, because of that, some patients may not even realize when they might have harmed it.

2. Problems with the Inter-Vertebra Disks

The second most common problem with the back and one that is almost as easy to treat as long as you address a physician in time is a problem with the cartilaginous disks between the vertebras. They allow nerves to escape from between the bone structured vertebras and to take commands issues from the spine to almost every organ in the body. However if those disks get abraded because of constant strain put on them or because of old age then the nerves will start getting pinched by the bones and that can result in excruciating pain.

3. Tailbone Pain

Just below the lower back the spinal column ends with a tailbone and many lower back pain cases are actually caused by incorrect posture that has somehow affected the tailbone. Normally, just by sitting the tailbone should not even touch the surface of the chair, however, since most of us tend to slouch in our chairs, we end up either partially dislocating the tailbone or over flexing it in one direction or the other. This is perhaps the easiest to treat cause for back pain since it only involves correcting your posture.

4. Sacroiliac Joint Pain

The joints that transfer the weight of the upper body on to the hipbone that further transfers that weight on to the legs is called the sacroiliac joint and they are extremely powerful ligaments. However severe trauma like a car accident or the passing of time can cause those ligaments to be torn and the joint will no longer work properly. Because the ligaments now allow too much movement nerves and muscles are pulled and pushed beyond their normal position and that will cause pain.

5. Referred Pain

Lastly, the most ironic thing about the human body is that issues in one place can cause pain in a completely different place and that is generally called referred pain. In the case of lower back pain anything from bad posture to prostate cancer and an abdominal disease can cause pain to be felt in the lower back. That is why many women during their menstrual cycle or people with kidney stones will report lower back pain although there is nothing wrong with that part of their body.

If you suffer from back pain, read about three effective ways to stretch your lower back!

Author:
The most common causes of low back pain are: Injury or overuse of muscles, ligaments, and joints. Pressure on nerve roots in the spinal canal. This post is contributed by Joye Allen, a passionate writer writes about various issues of health. She also provides information about chiropractic clinics.