Synonyms in a broader sense
- Lumbar spine syndrome
- Lumbago
- Chronic back pain
- Chronic lumbar spine complaints
- Lumbar spine pain syndrome
This article is mainly written from a physiotherapeutic physiotherapy perspective. The term lumbar spine syndrome does not describe an independent clinical picture that can be traced back to specific anatomical or morphological conditions, but is a collective description (syndrome) for various signs of disease (symptoms). The leading symptom of lumbar spine syndrome is localized back pain that is related to the lumbar spine.
The majority of all adults have already had to gain experience with back pain. Almost everyone will suffer from back pain at least once in their life. Hardly any other orthopedic complaint has seen such a rapid increase in recent years as the number of patients with back pain in need of therapy. Pain in the region of the lumbar spine (lumbar spine) can roughly be divided into two major areas:
- Acute and
- Subdivide chronic back pain.
Causes of a lumbar spine syndrome
The causes of lumbar spinal syndrome are numerous. The most common cause of pain in a lumbar spine syndrome is degenerative changes in the lumbar spine. These include in particular disc protrusions of the lumbar spine (protrusion) and disc herniations of the lumbar spine (prolapse), which can lead to nerve pain in the back, as well as arthrotic changes of vertebral bodies and vertebral joints, such as osteochondrosis.
Spinal canal stenosis of the lumbar spine (narrowing of the vertebral body) and spondylolisthesis (spondylolisthesis) can also result from wear and tear of the spine and cause a lumbar spine syndrome. Muscle tension and poor posture of the back due to weakness of the back muscles are also frequent triggers of a lumbar spine syndrome. Another important cause of complaints in the context of a lumbar spine syndrome are injuries to the spinal column, for example vertebral body fractures.
Vertebral body fractures can be caused by trauma to the spinal column (for example in a car accident), but more common are so-called osteoporotic vertebral body fractures, i.e. vertebral body fractures caused by osteoporosis. In osteoporosis, which can also be described as bone loss, bone material is broken down, resulting in a decrease in bone density and bone strength, which can lead to fractures, including fractures of the spinal column. More rarely, another disease, osteomalacia, in which a mineralization disorder of the bones occurs, is the cause of vertebral body fractures.
Another important cause of a lumbar spine syndrome is the group of inflammatory diseases of the back, which can be of rheumatic and infectious origin. Among the inflammatory diseases of the back of rheumatic origin are Bekhterev’s disease, reactive joint inflammations (for example Reiter’s syndrome), enteropathic spondylarthritis (one with chronic inflammatory bowel diseases), such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis associated joint inflammation), psoriasis spondylarthritis (an inflammation of the joints associated with psoriasis) and the undifferentiated joint inflammation that frequently occurs in children and adolescents. In very rare cases, tumors of vertebral bodies in the lumbar spine or congenital malformations of the lumbar spine, such as scoliosis (lateral curvature of the vertebral body) are the cause of lumbar spine syndrome.
