Back pain? These are the causes

Back pain is often referred to by a variety of other names such as waist pain, back ache and lumbago. Irrespective of whatever colloquial name it is called, there is no doubt that this is easily one of the most common afflictions of the human race.

 Back pain is believed to be second only to the common cold as a reason for seeking medical care. It is a price we all have to pay for walking on two feet. Back pain has several causes, depending on age, sex, presence of other diseases, etc. Irrespective of the cause, however, there is a common association of back pain with back stiffness, deformity, numbness and weakness of the legs.

 Most people — if not everyone — will have at least one episode of significant back pain in their life time. There is a joke about there being only two groups of people: those that already suffer from back pain, and those waiting for their own first episode. The commonest causes of back pain in an environment such as ours include broad categories such as infections, trauma (injuries), disc prolapse and rupture, degenerative disease (arthritis) and cancers. Infections: By far the commonest and most dreaded infection on the back is tuberculosis.

This form of TB is quite different from the more commonly known variety which affects the lungs and causes persistent cough often productive of bloody sputum, weight loss and generalised ill health. TB of the spine often arrives through the blood stream. Once it takes root, it destroys adjacent vertebra (backbones), and eventual collapse of the bone, producing a hump deformity called gibbus. This is the familiar hunchback. While not all cases of TB will result in gibbus, back pain is invariable. It is gradual, persistent and progressive.

At times, the bone destruction is severe enough to affect the spinal cord, causing weakness of the legs or even frank paralysis. This is the most dreaded complication. Other types of spine infection causing back pain are bacterial in origin. The bacterium, staphylococcus aureus, is often the culprit and is often introduced during a procedure on the back. Thankfully, these are rare causes of back pain. Trauma (injuries): In today’s world of high velocity travel and high energy recreational pursuits, injuries to the back are quite common. A common long term sequel of an injury to the back, however, is back pain. This is either because the injury caused a disc prolapse at the time, or accelerated the ageing process, resulting in arthritis. The end result often is back pain.
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