Degenerative spinal diseases

Spinal pain has many causes. In most cases, it results from ligament sprain or strain of the muscles and soft tissues of the back. Overactivity of the back muscles can injure ligaments, which in turn causes pain. An intervertebral disc can also be injured, causing a protrusion or herniation. As discs age, they begin to lose moisture and shrink, sharply increasing loading on the intervertebral joints and causing repeated minor injury.

Individual anatomical features of the spine combined with strenuous physical activity can narrow the spinal canal, causing stenosis through vertebral slippage, or spondylolisthesis, and the formation of bony or soft-tissue growths, or osteophytes.

Physical causes of pain can include osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, disc degeneration and herniation, fractures such as those associated with osteoporosis, and, rarely, infections and tumours.