Weight Loss Diet And Exercise: What's Making Your Back Hurt?

What's Making Your Back Hurt? Skip to content

Enter Search Keywords. Use the arrow keys to navigate suggestions. Health A-Z

Common Conditions

View All ADD/ADHD Allergies Arthritis Cancer Cold, Flu & Cough Depression Diabetes Eye Health Heart Disease Heartburn/GERD Pain Management Sexual Conditions Skin Problems Sleep Disorders

Featured Topics

Know the Signs of Early Pregnancy? Test Your Smarts: What's Safe to Eat When You're Pregnant? Peek Inside the Womb to See How Baby Grows Healthy School Lunches Quiz: Know How to Avoid The Next Toddler Meltdown? WebMD Vaccine Tracker: Manage Vaccinations for Your Entire Family

WebMD Baby App

Get parenting tips, track schedules, and create a mobile baby book. News & Experts

News

View All

Today's Top Health Headlines

Get the Latest Drug Approvals & Alerts Find FDA Consumer Updates On The Road Again: FDA Mobile Laboratories Sign up to receive WebMD's award-winning content delivered to your inbox.

WebMD Health Experts and Community

Talk to health experts and other people like you in WebMD's Communities. It's a safe forum where you can create or participate in support groups and discussions about health topics that interest you.

WebMD Experts & Blogs

Read expert views and commentary on popular health topics.

WebMD Communities

Connect with people like you, and get expert guidance on living a healthy life. WebMD Answers

Got a health question? Get answers provided by leading organizations, doctors, and experts.

Get Answers

WebMD Newsletters

My WebMD Sign In

Please enter email address

Enter your password

Keep me signed in on this computer Show more Information If you select "Keep me signed in on this computer", every time you visit WebMD.com you won't have to type your email address and password. This means that a cookie will stay on your computer even when you exit or close your browser which may reduce your levels of privacy and security. You should never select this option if you're using a publicly accessible computer, or if you're sharing a computer with others. Even if you select this option there are some features of our site that still require you to log in for privacy reasons.

Forget your password? Having trouble signing in?

Why should I
sign up for WebMD?

With a WebMD Account you can:

Track your way to weight loss success Manage your family's vaccinations Join the conversation See more benefits Sign Up Why WebMD? My WebMD Show Menu My Tools My WebMD Pages My Account Sign Out Facebook Twitter Pinterest WebMD Home

Back Pain Health Center

Back Pain Features Email a Friend Print Article Back Pain Health Center Tools & ResourcesLow Back Pain Causes Is Your Back Pain Sciatica? Herniated Disk: What Happens Lower Back Pain Quiz Everyday Aches and Pains Quiz Get Chronic Pain Coping Tips webmd.m.share.init(); Font Size A A A webmd.m.fontSizer.init(); What's Making Your Back Hurt? ByR. Morgan Griffin
WebMD Feature Reviewed byLaura J. Martin, MD

When you've got back pain, one of the best questions you can ask is, "Why is it happening?" That can be the first step to helping the problem.

Common causes for back pain include:

Recommended Related to Back Pain TENS for Back Pain

TENS, or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, is a back pain treatment that uses low voltage electric current to relieve pain.TENS is typically done with a TENS unit, a small battery-operated device. The device can be hooked to a belt and is connected to two electrodes. The electrodes carry an electric current from the TENS machine to the skin. Many pharmacies and medical supply stores, though, carry products called TENS belts or TENS support belts. These products claim to use TENS technology...

Read the TENS for Back Pain article > >

Muscle and ligament injuries. These are the most common causes of back pain. Shoveling snow or helping a friend move her couch can sometimes overstretch the muscles or ligaments. You can wind up with strains or sprains. Most of these injuries heal in a few days to weeks.
Disc injuries. Discs are like padded cushions between the bones of your spine. They act like shock absorbers. Physical stress or injury can break one open. This is called a ruptured or herniated disc. Ruptured discs can press on nerves, causing pain such as sciatica.
Osteoarthritis. Arthritis can affect the joints in the spine -- called facet joints -- just as it can affect your knees or wrists. As you get older, discs break down and shrink. The facet joints may start to rub against one another. Your back may feel stiff when you wake up or hurt after standing or walking.
Osteoporosis. Weaker bones make fractures more likely, including fractures in your spine.
Spinal stenosis. The bones of your spine surround your spinal cord -- a bundle of nerves that send signals between your brain and body. If the space around your spinal cord narrows, it can put pressure on the nerves and cause pain. The most common cause is osteoarthritis, which can lead to bony growths called spurs that press into the area around the spinal cord.
Spondylolisthesis. Joints and ligaments keep the bones of your spinal column lined up. If they're too loose, the bones can slip or slide against one another. They can also press against sensitive nerves.

Many other conditions, such as scoliosis and some serious medical conditions, can cause back pain, too. It is important to see your doctor for back pain if:

Your pain is associated with trauma. You are having numbness or tingling, bowel or bladder problems, or unexplained weight loss. You have a history of cancer, osteoporosis, or immune system problems. Your back pain has lasted more than six weeks. You are age 70 or older. No Clear Reason?

"A lot of the time, we can't find the cause of a person's back pain," says Steven P. Cohen, MD, a pain medicine professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Doctors call those cases "nonspecific." The pain is real. It's just that tests and scans don't show the cause.

There is good news. Even when doctors can't find the cause of back pain, they still have treatments that can help, Cohen says.