What causes back pain?

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What causes back pain?

There are causes of local back pain (pain in your spine, muscles and other tissues in your back) and then there are causes of radiating back pain (pain from a problem in an organ that spreads to or feels like it's in your back). Examples of both include:

Local back pain

Back pain in your spine may be caused by:

  • Ankylosing spondylitis.
  • Arthritis.
  • Degenerative spondylolisthesis.
  • Intervertebral disk degeneration.
  • Radiculopathy.
  • Sacroiliac joint dysfunction.
  • Spinal disk degeneration.
  • Spinal stenosis.
  • Spondylolisthesis.
  • Trauma/injury.
  • Tumor.

Back pain localized in your tissues may be caused by:

  • Sprain of a ligament.
  • A strain of a muscle. In the U.S. 85% of cases of back pain are caused by a muscle strain.
  • Muscle tightness.

Radiating back pain

Radiating back pain may be caused by:

  • Abdominal aortic aneurysms.
  • Appendicitis.
  • Cancers (very rare).
  • Fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome.
  • Infections (very rare).
  • Gallbladder inflammation.
  • Kidney infection and kidney stones.
  • Liver problems.
  • Pancreatitis.
  • Pelvic inflammatory diseases (sexually transmitted infections).
  • Perforating stomach ulcers.
  • Urinary tract infections.

In people designated female at birth (DFAB), radiating back pain may be caused by:

  • Endometriosis.
  • Pregnancy.
  • Uterine fibroids.

In people designated male at birth (MFAB), radiating back pain may be caused by:

  • Testicular injury or torsion.

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