What does your back pain mean?

Overview: Learning what your back pain means based on its location can help you understand the source and learn how to best treat it. Read about common causes of back pain and what that means for you.

Have you ever wondered why your back hurts? For some, the pain can be consistent and for others, it can come and go. Knowing the location of your back pain can help you understand the source and learn how to best treat it.  

Back pain can be in your neck (cervical), upper or middle back (thoracic), lower back (lumbar) or a combination.  

Common causes of back pain

• Poor posture involves your shoulders and back becoming rounded, which can be hard to correct. You may have heard the term “text neck,” caused by frequently looking down at your cellphone and stressing your neck. Improving your posture will help your muscles around your spine to grow stronger and lessen the tension and pain you may be feeling in your upper back and neck.  
• Herniated disc: In between the bones that make up your spine are discs to provide a cushion to your spine. If one of the discs tears, a fragment of the disc could press on the spinal nerves and cause pain. While it can occur in any part of your spine, it’s most common to your lower spine and neck.
• Strained or sprained muscles: Your lower back muscles and tissue become inflamed and swollen if it’s strained or sprained. While this can occur in any part of your back, it’s the most common type of lower back pain. You may be experiencing pain, stiffness, muscle spasms or find it difficult to bend and move.  
• Lumbar spinal stenosis is when the lower part of your spinal canal narrows. This causes pain because it’s compressing the nerves. Since those nerves are connected from your spine to your legs, you may experience pain in your lower back, glutes, or legs, as well as weakness, numbness or cramping in your legs. This can occur from aging.  
• Osteoporosis is when your bones’ strength and density weaken. It’s most commonly diagnosed in older adults. Osteoporosis makes it more likely for your bones, which includes your spine, to deteriorate. This can lead to compression fractures and pain.
• Scoliosis is when the spine is curved into a s-shape or c-shape. The majority of the time, the reason behind someone having scoliosis is unknown, but common factors that lead to it are genes, hormones and cell structure changes.

How to relieve back pain

Visit your primary care provider to learn more about the reasons behind your back pain. Your provider can refer you to pain management, neurosurgery care, orthopedics care or physical therapy depending on the location or cause of your pain.

This blog was medically reviewed by a MercyOne provider.