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    • Back Pain
    • Guide
    • Overview & Facts
      • What Is Back Pain?
      • Causes
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    Overview & Facts

    Back pain may be mild or extreme, quick or constant. What raises your risk -- and what can you do about it? Learn about back pain’s causes, risks, and prevention.

    1. What Is Back Pain?

      1. Back Pain Basics

        Problems from back pain are the most common physical complaints among American adults and are a leading cause of lost job time -- to say nothing of the time and money spent in search of relief.

      2. Managing Pain From Back Injuries

        Learn about the spine and get basic information on back pain.

      3. Musculoskeletal Pain

        Musculoskeletal pain is pain that affects the muscles, ligaments and tendons, and bones.

      4. Slideshow: A Visual Guide to Low Back Pain

        Low back pain is a universal human experience -- almost everyone has it at some point.

    2. Causes

      1. Causes of Back Pain

        Back pain often happens because something is off in the way your spinal joints, muscles, discs, and nerves fit together and move.

      2. Herniated Disc

        Problems with the spine’s discs may play a role in back pain.

      3. Osteoarthritis

        Osteoarthritis, the most common type of arthritis, can involve the spine.

      4. Spinal Stenosis

        If the spinal canal narrows, back pain may result.

      5. Spondylolisthesis

        Spondylolisthesis is a slipping of vertebra that occurs, in most cases, at the base of the spine.

      6. Spine Curvature Disorder Types

        When abnormalities of the spine occur, the natural curvatures of the spine are misaligned or exaggerated in certain areas, as occurs with lordosis, kyphosis, and scoliosis.

      7. Slideshow: A Visual Guide to Sciatica

        When something injures or puts pressure on the sciatic nerve, it can cause pain in the lower back that spreads to the hip, buttocks, and leg.

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