Causes of Back Pain

Back pain has a variety of causes, including poor posture and poor body mechanics. For example, standing for long periods of time or sitting incorrectly can cause back pain. Engaging in certain sports often carries a risk of back injury. Low back pain is often associated with heavy physical work, lifting or forceful movement, bending or twisting, or awkward positions. You may even have a back injury and not know it until a stressful movement aggravates the condition. Uncommon—but serious—causes of back pain include infections, tumors, and fractures.

Don’t ignore back pain. Talk to your doctor if your pain persists.

Here are some common causes of back pain:

Sprain or Strain: A sudden fall, car crash, or sports injury can cause a sprain or strain—or even just lifting something too heavy. When a back injury occurs, muscles, ligaments, and tendons can become over-stretched, overused, or torn. Tissues can swell, causing pain, tenderness, and stiffness.

Obesity: Your spine caries a large portion of your weight. Being overweight puts pressure and stress on the back, especially the low back. Plus, carrying excess weight aggravates other health conditions such as osteoporosis (weak bones), osteoarthritis (joint pain), rheumatoid arthritis (an autoimmune disease), degenerative disc disease (described below in the aging section), spinal stenosis, and spondylolisthesis.

Aging: Ligaments thicken and discs dry out with age. These age-related changes in the spine may lead to disorders that create pressure on your spinal nerves—meaning that you’ll have symptoms like pain, numbness, or weakness. Degenerative disc disease is an example of an age-related spinal disorder. Over time, your discs can lose their normal structure and function. That is just wear and tear, but it can result in a herniated disc (bulging out) and pain (see diagram). Sometimes when there’s a tear, chemicals are released, and they can irritate the spinal nerves, causing a specific type of nerve pain (radiculopathy).