Chronic Back Pain: Definitions, Diagnosis & Risk Factors

The term “chronic back pain” is typically used to describe symptoms that appear gradually and persist beyond three to six months. Pain is also considered chronic when it continues beyond the point of tissue healing. For this reason, chronic back pain is usually correlated less with recognizable tissue damage and structural problems than acute pain.

Chronic back pain can develop anywhere between the top of the neck to the lower (lumbar) spine. Pain may exist only in a specific area, or it may generate from a central point and spread into other parts of the back and body.

Individuals experiencing back pain often avoid physical activity or compensate by moving their bodies in different ways. This can aggravate pain and symptoms, which has longer-term implications when pain is chronic.

Chronic back pain is typically age-related and is common in both men and women. While individuals may think a particular incident or injury is responsible for their symptoms, there are usually several contributing factors. This type of pain is, however, harder to diagnose than acute pain and an identified cause can’t always be found.

Identifying Chronic Back Pain

Longer lasting back pain can typically fall into two major categories:

Chronic pain with an identifiable cause:

This includes traumatic injury such as strains, sprains, disc herniation and fractures, as well as structural spine conditions such as spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease and spondylolisthesis. Chronic lower back pain causes may also be the result of other medical ailments, including osteoporosis and fibromyalgia, rarer incidences of infections or tumors, as well as women-specific conditions such as endometriosis and ovarian cysts. These issues may cause ongoing pain until properly treated. While this is often classed as chronic back pain, it is also referred to as long-term acute pain.

Chronic pain without an identifiable cause:

If pain continues after damaged tissue has healed, or there is no identifiable reason for the pain, it can be classified as chronic benign pain. Sometimes, the nervous system may continue to send pain signals to the brain even when any damage to tissues has been healed and there are no remaining chronic lower back pain causes. These signal misfires may create an ongoing experience of chronic back pain despite there being no existing injury or problem in the body. Super Patch’s range of pain management patches address pain symptoms from this perspective.

Risk Factors

An ongoing lack of physical activity can lead to one of the biggest contributors towards chronic back pain: muscle deconditioning. Also known as muscle atrophy, this is where back muscles lose the strength and stability needed to support you, causing them to shrink and resulting in wear and tear over time. Some atrophy happens naturally as we age, but a general lack of physical activity, or reducing activity for too long after an injury can aggravate pain symptoms.

People who work at jobs that are sedentary, require heavy or repetitive lifting, or subject them to vibration from machinery or vehicles are more susceptible to developing chronic lower back pain. Driving a vehicle for a long time can also increase risk.

Improper posture and body mechanics during everyday life are common chronic lower back pain causes, as they can stress your spine and contribute to pain symptoms over time. Not correctly lifting heavy items, lack of ergonomic support if you sit at a desk for extended periods of time, and forgetting to stretch regularly during long patches of inactivity may put you at risk of chronic back pain.

Conclusion

Since it can be difficult to identify the source of chronic back pain, it is important to move cautiously with a treatment plan. If your doctor has exhausted diagnostic options, it may be time to visit a back pain specialist. If the source of pain remains unknown or the pain cannot be treated, a medical professional may help you to reduce flare-ups and manage the pain with nonsurgical relief options.