Right Side Back Pain

A common painful condition of the spine and its associated structure is medically referred to as dorsalgia which is basically back pain.

To understand back pain let us first study the spine itself.   

The 24 articulating bones and nine fused bones that form the lower end making up a total of 33 bones anatomically make up the spine or vertebral column. It is divided into four regions: cervical or neck region, thoracic or upper back, lumber or lower back and pelvic region. The nervous connecting link between the body and the brain is the vertebral column that houses the spinal cord. Nerves radiate out from the spinal cord to all regions of the body and are responsible for sensory and motor functions. The intervertebral fluid filled disks that cushion the bones and provide lubrication are present in the bones of the spine. Responsible for the flexibility of spine is the articulating structure.

Any injury or damage to the spinal column, the associated skeletal muscles, tendons, ligaments, intervertebral disks or the spinal cord itself can result in back pain. The most common form of back pain is lower back pain. “Lumbago” is a lower back pain that occurs in the lumbar region.

Muscle strain is believed to be the prevailing cause of lumbago. Improper posture, lifting heavy weights etc. strain the soft tissues of the lumbar region resulting in pain. Injury and pain may also result from disk tear or herniation, it is very painful and requires corrective surgery. The vertebral bones grind against each other as the intervetebral disks shrink as people age and such a condition leads to chronic pain.

In old age another cause of lower back pain is ‘spondylolisthesis’, it is the condition in which due to weakened ligaments and muscle tissue the vertebrae move to a greater extent . Another cause of lumbago in the elderly is arthritis.

Swelling of the tissue surrounding the spinal cord is caused due to infection of the cartilage or bone and this results in pain and exerts pressure on spinal chord. Expert medical help should be immediately sought in such cases. Ruptured disks or inflammation which can be very painful can result from similar physical trauma.

Need To Learn About Lower Back Pain? Read Douglas Brown’s Website On Lower Back Pain.

Tags: Back Pain, lower back pain

This entry was posted on Monday, January 31st, 2011 at 10:17 am and is filed under Back Pain. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.