Acute mechanical low back pain

Acute low back pain is common in Australia. In fact, 80% of the population will experience low back pain at some point in their lives. The good news is, in the vast majority of cases this acute low back pain will not be from anything serious (life-threatening). Acute low back pain lasts for under three months. Chronic low back pain lasts for over three months. Acute low back pain can be (and typically is) mechanical. This means it comes from the mechanical structures of the low back such as joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons and intervertebral discs.

Mechanical low back pain is typically caused by loading the low back tissues too much (overuse – could even be sitting too much), too little (deconditioning), inappropriately (lifting too much than adequately trained for), randomly (painting the house one random Sunday).

Symptoms

Mechanical back pain is pain that is reproduced, improved, or exacerbated with movement. In some cases, mechanical back pain may be better on the move such as walking and worse statically such as sitting. Bending to one side may relieve pain while bending to the other site may intensify the pain. Back pain that exists in the low back but can’t be affected by movements (mechanics) or only occurs in the evenings or follows a random pattern should be evaluated by a healthcare provider.

Treatments

The treatment for mechanical low back pain differs depending on the cause, nature, severity and individual factors. Chiropractic treatment is an appropriate first treatment for acute mechanical low back pain.

Causes of low back pain

The following conditions are common causes of low back pain.

• Lumbar myelopathy
• Cauda equina syndrome
• Lumbar spinal stenosis
• Bone Spurs
• Degenerative disc disease (DDD)
• Pinched nerve
• Lumbar radiculopathy
• Lumbar facet joint pain
• Bulging Disc
• Herniated Disc
• Disc protrusion
• Discogenic pain
• Post laminectomy syndrome
• Coccydynia
• Spondylolisthesis
• Spondyloarthropathy
• Ankylosing spondylitis
• Reiter’s syndrome
• Psoriatic arthritis
• Enteropathic arthritis
• Sacroiliac disorders
• Foot drop
• Spinal neurofibroma
• Acute low pain
• Chronic low back pain
• Stiff low back
• Trigger points in the low back
• Red flags for low back pain
• Internal disc disruption
• Lumbar spondylosis
• Lumbar facet syndrome
• Lumbar foraminal stenosis
• Lumbar disc herniation
• Lumbar osteoarthritis
• Lumbar osteophytes