Low back pain causes

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Radiographic abnormalities of the low back may occur in patients without pain.^[1][2]

Possible causes of low back pain: ^{[3] [4]}

• Mechanical:
  • Apophyseal osteoarthritis
  • Facet arthropathy
  • Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis
  • Degenerative Discs
  • Scheuermann’s kyphosis
  • Spinal disc herniation (slipped disc)
  • Spinal stenosis
  • Spondylolisthesis and other congenital abnormalities
  • Fractures
  • Non-specific muscular or ligamentous strains or sprains
  • Leg length difference
  • Restricted hip motion
  • Misaligned pelvis- pelvic obliquity, anteversion or retroversion
• Inflammatory:
  • Seronegative spondylarthritides (e.g. ankylosing spondylitis)
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Infection – epidural abscess or osteomyelitis
• Neoplastic:
  • Bone tumors (primary or metastatic)
  • Intradural spinal tumors
• Metabolic:
  • Osteoporotic fractures
  • Osteomalacia
  • Ochronosis
  • Chondrocalcinosis
• Paget’s disease
• Referred pain:
  • Pelvic/ abdominal disease
  • Posture
• Soft Tissue:
  • Ligament strain
  • Muscle spasm
  • Nerve root irritation, radiculopathy
  • Posterior rami syndrome
  • Sympathetic pain syndromes RSD,CRPS
• Depression
• Oxygen deprivation

• Acute intermittent porphyria
• Adrenal hemorrhage
• Alkaptonuria
• Ankylosing spondylitis
• Aortic aneurysm, abdominal
• Autoimmune oophoritis
• Axial osteosclerosis
• Back strain
• Bone metastases
• Breakdance back syndrome
• Breast cancer
• Cauda equina syndrome
• Chlamydia infection
• Chondrocalcinosis
• Chordoma
• Cholesterol embolism
• Chronic interstitial nephritis
• Chronic pancreatitis
• Clinical depression
• Cobb syndrome
• Coccydynia
• Colorectal polyps
• Colorectal cancer
• Copper toxicity
• Danubian endemic familial nephropathy
• Degenerative disc disease
• Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis
• Disc disorder
• Discitis
• Dysmenorrhoea
• Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
• Enteropathic arthritis
• Epidural abscess
• Excessive lifting
• Facet arthropathy
• Familial renal cell carcinoma
• Fractures
• Functional disorders
• Intervertebral disc herniation
• Intradural spinal tumors
• Juvenile osteochondrosis of spine
• Juvenile osteoporosis
• Leukemia, mast-cell
• Ligament strain
• Malignancy
• Marchiafava-Micheli disease
• Metastatic neoplasm
• Misaligned pelvis- pelvic obliquity, anteversion or retroversion
• Multifocal fibrosclerosis
• Muscle spasm
• Myeloma
• Ochronosis
• Osteomalacia
• Osteomyelitis
• Osteoporosis
• Paget disease of bone
• Pancreatic cancer
• Pelvic abscess
• Pelvic inflammatory disease
• Polycystic kidney disease, adult (autosomal dominant)
• Polymyalgia rheumatica
• Pompe’s disease
• Posterior Rami Syndrome
• Posture
• Pregnancy
• Premenstrual syndrome
• Prostate cancer
• Prostatitis
• Psoriatic arthritis
• Pyelonephritis, acute
• Reiter’s syndrome
• Retroperitoneal fibrosis
• Retroperitoneal haemorrhage
• Scheuermann’s disease
• Seronegative spondylarthritides
• Spastic pelvic floor syndrome
• Spinal cord injury, acute
• Spondylolisthesis
• Spondylolysis
• Spondylosis
• Sympathetic pain syndromes
• Tethered cord syndrome
• Transverse myelitis
• Tuberculosis
• Uterine fibroids
• UTI
• Vertebral dysfunction
• Vertebral fracture
• Viral prostatitis
• Whiplash Injuries

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