Q. I am a female in my mid thirties, and I have terrible lower back pain. What may be causing it? I do not do any heavy lifting, except for my 3 year old. I am a stay at home mom, and do not spend an extreme amount of time on my feet.

A. Lower back pain can be brought on by a number of different reasons. Sometimes a visit to a chiropractor can help determine if it is a slipped disc or herniated disc that is causing the pain. Usually the most frequent cause of lower back pain, is pulled or strained muscles. It is possible to bend or move in a way the body is not used to, and cause a strained muscle. Bending forward in a way that uses muscles that have not been used in a while, can cause lower back pain.

Injuries that may have happened several years ago, can sneak up and cause problems later in life. This is usually due to a slipped or herniated disc. In some cases back surgery may be needed to realign the discs.

Sometimes a strained muscle does not present itself until the day after it happened, leaving us to wonder what we did to cause it. Lifting a child from the ground, may cause muscle strain. This can actually cause a herniated disc. Playing with the toddler can also mean you use muscles that are not normally used, and result in a pulled muscle. A pulled muscle can take anywhere from a couple of days to a few weeks to feel better.

Other lower back pain causes may include more chronic conditions like osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis develops as we get older and can affect joints in the knees and hips. This may cause a person to walk differently, which uses different lower back muscles that are not used to the strain.

Trauma to the lower back that may cause a fracture needs to be treated by a doctor immediately. This may include falling down a couple of stairs, or falling off a bike. Other medical conditions like scoliosis, spinal stenosis, and spondylolysis are less common but do require medical treatment.

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