Around a third of people will experience some type of lower back pain every year. Lower back (lumbago) pain is usually not something to be worried about but should not be ignored. Most of the time individuals will assume it will pass over a few weeks – unfortunately, this is not the case and seeing a medical provider is the best option for safe, and quick pain relief. One of the most frustrating aspects of this condition is that every case is different and sometimes there are no readily recognizable causes for it developing. Likewise, it is difficult to place a timescale on recovery as most people will recover quite quickly while for others it could become a chronic condition.

Often, low back pain will be simply irritating and inconvenient. Simple stretches combined with just taking it easy will hopefully help it pass as smoothly as possible. Yet there are occasions when it is necessary to visit a medical professional to check that lower back pain is not a symptom of something more serious.

There is more to back pain then just having a painful back. The characteristics of the pain will usually suggest whether it is simply a strain- whereby rest, recuperation and sometimes medication are the only solutions, or it could be a deeper problem. Often people will know the moment they hurt their back by incorrectly lifting a heavy object, turning in an unusual manner, or even just sleeping in a less then ideal position. In these cases, there is usually a clear cause for the pain and in a way that is good news. It means that it can treated as an injury with appropriate care will heal up with little long-term repercussions.

However, what happens when lower back pain becomes apparent without a readily identifiable cause? Often referred to as ‘non-specific back pain’ – in the sense that it just appears unexpectedly – these will be taken much more seriously by most doctors. There are a wide variety of reasons why back pain may materialize as a symptom of a more significant health problem. It could be a slipped disc, caused when spine cartilage starts to press into a local nerve. Another common cause may be sciatica whereby an irritated nerve causes pain that runs   from the lower back all the way down to the feet. Both are usually accompanied by other symptoms such as numbness, weakness, and tingling.