Many people experience back pain throughout their lives. The common types of back injuries can range from the common, such as a sprain or strain, to more serious problems like herniated discs and spinal stenosis. This blog post will go over 14 common types of back injuries that you should be aware of!
1. Sciatica
This condition occurs when the sciatic nerve in your lower body becomes compressed or irritated — usually by something pressing down on it or pinching it as it runs through your hip and buttocks and all the way down your leg.
This compression results in pain that may feel like an electric shock running down the backside of your thigh and into your foot. It may also result in weakness, numbness, and tingling in your leg.
The best way to relieve sciatica symptoms is to get an early diagnosis and start conservative treatment, including rest, anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) or naproxen sodium (Aleve), exercises for back pain relief, wearing a brace if you sit for long periods and the use of heat or ice packs. Sometimes surgery is necessary to relieve pressure on your sciatic nerve.
2. Slipped or herniated disc
When soft, gel-like cushions between the bones of your spine (vertebrae) move out of place or become damaged, it can irritate nearby nerves. This condition is called a slipped or herniated disc. A bulging disk can also press on nerves in your lower back, causing pain.
If you have one or more herniated discs in your back, you may feel the pain that spreads into your buttock and down the back of your thigh when you sit for extended periods — such as while driving or working at a desk. Symptoms may be worse when getting up from a seated position.
Treatment options include medications to relieve symptoms, physical therapy, and sometimes surgery to remove the herniated portion of your disc. The good news is that most herniated disks heal themselves if treated promptly.
3. Lumbar strain
This can occur when you move or lift something that’s too heavy or awkward or that puts stress on a particular muscle group in an unexpected way. The twisting and reaching motions used during many household activities also can lead to this injury.
Lumbar strains usually feel less severe than other back injuries such as pinched nerves and herniated discs until they become more serious. Left untreated, a lumbar strain may progress to sciatica (described above).
4. Pinched nerve
When a nerve is compressed or squeezed by surrounding tissues — often bone, muscles, tendons, and ligaments — it can cause numbness, pain, and muscle weakness in the area it serves. The most common areas for this type of injury include the neck, lower back, arms, and legs. Pinched nerves typically develop over time from poor posture or repetitive activity that involves bending or twisting.
Treatment may include a course of physical therapy to strengthen a weakened muscle along with medications, injections, and surgical procedures to relieve the nerve pressure where it’s occurring.
5. Spinal stenosis
This occurs when the spinal canal narrows and pinches your spinal cord and nerve roots. Spinal stenosis can result from wear and tear to your spine over time — such as from osteoarthritis changes in many older people — or from an injury.
Doctors usually diagnose spinal stenosis after ruling out other causes of leg pain. Treatment for spinal stenosis may involve medications and exercises to relieve symptoms such as muscle spasms and weakness and injections to reduce nerve inflammation.
6. Arthritis
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that causes the breakdown of cartilage in your joints, including the one between the sacrum and tailbone (sacroiliac joint).
The condition generally occurs when there’s wear and tear on your joints from aging or an injury. It also can be associated with inflammatory types of arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthritis.
Osteoarthritis in your SI joint may cause pain when you sit for long periods — such as while driving — because it restricts how much your pelvis can move when you’re in that position. Arthritis in this location usually affects middle-aged or older people — and those who are obese — and worsens over time. Treatments for it include medications, exercise, weight loss if needed, and injections to relieve pain around the joint.
7. Degenerative Disc Disease
As people age, their vertebrae become less flexible, and the discs between them become thinner and more stretched out. This can be associated with narrowing the spaces where nerves run through your back (spinal canal), sometimes resulting in pressure on those nerves.
Degenerative disc disease may cause leg pain that comes and goes, or that’s worse when you’re walking or standing for long periods. The condition also can lead to early osteoarthritis changes in these joints later on due to abnormal forces on the SI joint from a misaligned pelvis.
To help with early degenerative changes, doctors may recommend an exercise program to strengthen your core muscles and to stretch exercises to increase flexibility in your back and hips, as well as NSAIDs, muscle relaxants, or injections if the pain becomes chronic.
8. Scoliosis
When you have scoliosis, one side of your body is rotated compared with the other side because the spine curves sideways instead of being straight up and down. Scoliosis usually begins during adolescence, when rapid growth can affect a child’s posture and cause this abnormal spine curvature. In adults, scoliosis commonly results from arthritis changes that distort how the vertebrae fit together at the SI joint, causing it to tilt to one side. This causes a different load distribution on your body, which may cause leg pain. Scoliosis also can be associated with spondylolisthesis. Treatment for scoliosis includes bracing and surgery if needed, along with physical therapy and exercises to improve balance and coordination.
9. Spondylolisthesis
In this condition, a vertebra in your lower back slips out of position over the vertebra below it, usually because a neighboring disc has weakened from arthritis changes or a previous injury. This can lead to early osteoarthritis changes in the joint between these vertebrae because abnormal forces are placed on the SI joint due to a misaligned pelvis — causing leg pain that may come and go or be worse when you’re walking or standing for long periods.
Spondylolisthesis usually affects people in their second decade of life. Still, it also is common in middle-aged adults who have had a significant back injury from a car accident, for example. Treatment may include bracing and surgery to stabilize the SI joint, along with physical therapy and exercises to improve balance and coordination.
10. Piriformis Syndrome
The piriformis muscle in the buttocks helps rotate your thigh at the hip. If this muscle compresses a nerve going to your leg, you can get pain — especially when you walk — that radiates down into your thigh, calf, and foot on the side of your body where the nerve gets compressed.
This can be a problem if you sit for long periods, causing the piriformis muscle to tighten and pinch the nerve. The pain may clear up when you move around or take a few steps. Treatment includes NSAIDs and physical therapy, along with taking breaks during periods of prolonged sitting.
11. Hip Pointer
A hip pointer is a bruise caused by an impact to your iliac crest — the bony area on the upper part of your pelvis that juts out over each hip bone at about waist level. This can occur from falling onto or being struck in this area, such as from playing contact sports like soccer or hockey where there’s a risk of colliding with another player Hip pointers usually aren’t severe and go away on their own.
Still, you may need to limit your activity until the pain subsides. Treatment for a hip pointer usually includes applying ice and taking anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) or naproxen sodium (Aleve).
12. Trochanteric Bursitis
If you have this condition, the bursa — the fluid-filled sac that cushions bones where they rub together at joints — in front of your hip is irritated when you do repetitive movements, such as running or using a stair-climbing machine over several months. This causes pain in the area of your outer thigh near your hip joint. You also might feel tenderness in this area when you push on or press in a specific spot.
Your doctor may prescribe anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) or naproxen sodium (Aleve).
13. Piriformis Muscle Syndrome
This is a condition related to piriformis syndrome, where the piriformis muscle compresses both the sciatic nerve and pudendal nerve. This causes pain not only in your buttocks and lower back but also your genitals and urinary tract — including frequent and painful urination and difficulty emptying your bladder completely.
Treatment for this can include stretching exercises to relieve the tension of the muscle along with physical therapy and taking breaks during periods of prolonged sitting. Surgery might be an option if other methods don’t work.
14. Hip Flexor Strain
This occurs when you do repeated movements that stress one or more tendons for your hip flexors, the muscles in front of your upper thigh that allow you to lift your knee toward your chest. These muscles get tight when you run or do repetitive exercises without taking rests in between — such as during soccer season when you play on several teams, all with different practice schedules.
Treatment includes rest, applying ice; wearing compression shorts; stretching; and doing exercises for lower back pain relief, including strengthening exercises after an adequate warmup. Surgery might be done if other methods don’t work.