There are many causes of low back pain, but often times the exact cause is unknown. Instead of being on exact cause there are usually many things overtime that contribute to a painful lower back. When “red flags” have been ruled out (cancer, aneurysm, fracture, tumor) and we really can’t put our finger on the direct cause we call this “mechanical” or “non-specific” low back pain.
Poor dietary habits can come into play here as well increasing your sensitivity to pain. For acute pain and inflammation of the lower back it would help to follow the anti-inflammatory diet to decrease the inflammation and start the healing process.
Here is a list of the top 11 things that can cause a painful lower back:
1. Postural strains
2. Lack of exercise (deconditioning)
3. Sacro-iliac joint dysfunction or restriction
4. Repetitive overuse of muscles and joints
5. Hip joint dysfunction
6. Low back arthritis (lumbar or sacro-iliac)
7. Lumbar spine disc herniation
8. Thoracic/Lumbar junction joint restriction
9. Scoliosis
10. Generally anything up or down the kinetic chain
11. Red flags mentioned above
Usually when considering what causes low back pain a number of the above mentioned can come into play to aggravate the lower back. For instance, someone might have sacro-iliac dysfunction and a lumbar disc herniation secondary to repetitive use of the lumbar spine. Many other combinations of conditions exist but for the purpose of this webpage only the most common are named.