Back pain types are of many types. It is important to identify the type of back pain because not all backaches are directly connected to the back bone. Even if the pain is related to the backbone, there can be different reasons for the painful condition. Only a very small percentage of people suffering from acute back pain need clinical diagnosis. Clinical diagnosis can determine the cause of the back pain. Acute pain (that lasts less than 4-12 weeks) generally doesn’t need a diagnosis. However, chronic pain (more than 12 weeks) and pain that interferes with your life needs serious attention.
It is also a difficult thing to identify the back pain type, as most people will not remember the first instance of back pain. Certain activities – like lifting heavy objects – can cause back pain in the long run. This is because there can be injuries like fractures or dislocation to skeletal muscles and inter-vertebral discs. Some people don’t experience any pain, even in case of fractures to vertebrae. The reasons for not experiencing pain are not known.
Back Pain Types
Acute, sub acute and chronic are the three main types according to the duration of the pain. Acute pain lasts for less than 4 weeks, sub acute lasts from 4 to 12 weeks, while pain lasting for more than 12 weeks (three months) is called chronic back pain. Acute pain usually goes away without any intervention. Sometimes simple movements and stretches help. When it is chronic back pain, you may need medical attention, as the back ache can be symptomatic of other conditions.
Depending on the position, back pain can be classified into three – neck pain, upper back pain and lower back pain. While neck pain and upper back pain are almost always due to poor posture or jerky movements, lower back pain can be due to serious conditions like disc herniation, fractures to bones and due to infection in different internal organs like kidney, pancreas, uterus, etc. In extremely rare cases, cancer can also cause lower back pain.
There are also three main back pain types – axial, referred and radicular pain.
Axial back pain is the most common type. It often has no specific cause. The acute pain can go away without any special attention. Certain activities, long term rest on a chair or on bed can aggravate the condition.
The brain may not identify the exact source of pain. In such cases, the damage done to certain parts can appear to be hurting other places. Since nerves pass through the spine, the brain wrongly identifies the spine or backbone as the source of pain. This type of pain is referred pain. You feel pain on the back, but the cause can be an infection to other body parts – kidney, urinary bladder, pancreas, uterus, etc.
Radicular back pain is due to actual damage to the backbone, spinal nerves or inter-vertebral discs. When spinal nerves are damaged or blocked, it can cause numbness, insensitivity, and weakness in legs and arms.
Only a physician can diagnose the above three conditions accurately. He/she can then suggest the right treatment according to the cause of the pain. Not all back pain types respond equally to treatment. Your doctor can suggest you ways of managing your back pain.