Different causes include:
- Lumbar muscle sprain
- Disc herniation (movement of disc to abnormal place in spine) or tear in the disc.
- Joint arthritis – There are joints in the spine (called as facet joint), arthritis of the same could cause back pain. Arthritis is because of thinning of cartilage as we age.
- Narrowing of the spinal canal (Lumbar canal stenosis)
- Injury – Acute or chronic.
- Post back surgery pain – Pain which is persistent after the back surgery. Pain which was present before the surgery doesn’t go away or it gets worsen.
- Cancer/Tumours – There are certain kind of cancers which spread to the spine and hence the cause of pain.
Treatment of the back pain depends on the cause of the pain. Various treatment options other than medicines are
(a) Selective Nerve root block : targeting just the nerves which are inflamed and hence the cause of pain.
(b) Radiofrequency ablation : It is minimally invasive treatment options targeting the nerve causing the pain.