Less Common Causes of Low Back Pain
Lumbar scoliosis: an excess sideways curvature of the lumbar spine, which usually reverses mid-back, creating an S-shaped spine.
Anterolisthesis/ retrolisthesis: slippage of one vertebrae relative to the one below it due to instability of the facet joints. The unstable vertebrae slides forward in a shearing fashion during spinal movement, irritating soft tissues and nerves.
Congenital defects (developed during embryonic development) in the lumbopelvic region. A common example is when the L5 vertebrae fuses to the sacrum on one side, restricting normal movement and causing the opposite side to compensate. It can cause pain/ discomfort on the fused side and/or the opposite side.
Chronic Sacroiliac Joint Sprain; SI Joint Instability: if your pain is at the sacral level on one or both sides, you might have a sacroiliac joint sprain and instability (excess movement between the sacrum and ilium). This is caused by trauma to the joint, such as a hard fall on the butt or sports injury.
These four, special categories of low back pain have limited treatment options due to their physical nature, so treatment for them is only palliative. The self-treatment methods to follow are primarily for low back pain that doesn’t involve any of the four special cases.
Vertebral fractures can cause back pain and are not covered by this guide. Lastly, intractable lumbar/ pelvic pain that does not improve with rest or therapy is a sign of metastatic cancer, which obviously requires immediate medical attention.
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