Pain in my lower back and hips: What’s Causing My Lower Back and Hip Pain?
What’s Causing My Lower Back and Hip Pain?
You can develop lower back and hip pain due to injury or strain. But it can also occur due to an underlying health condition.
Experiencing lower back pain is quite common. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, close to 80 percent of adults have lower back pain at some point in their lives. The pain can range in intensity from a dull ache to sharp sensations that affect your mobility and quality of life.
Back pain can easily be mistaken for hip pain and discomfort. The joint of your hip is located near your spine. For that reason, injuries to your hip can resemble or actually cause back pain. In addition to hip and lower back pain, you may also experience:
- groin pain on the affected side
- stiffness
- pain while walking or moving
- trouble sleeping
Here are five possible causes of lower back and hip pain.
Acute back pain is often the result of muscle sprains or strains.
Sprains occur when your ligaments are overstretched and sometimes torn.
Strains, on the other hand, are caused by stretching — and possible tearing — of your tendons or muscles. Though the immediate reaction is pain in your back, you may also experience dull aches or discomfort in your hip.
Treatment for sprains and strains includes proper stretching and, in more severe cases, physical therapy. If your pain worsens, schedule a visit to your doctor to get proper treatment and to ensure your pain isn’t the result of a more serious injury.
A pinched nerve is an uncomfortable condition that may cause shooting pain, tingling, and discomfort, particularly if it occurs in your back, spine, or hip.
It occurs when too much pressure is applied to a nerve by surrounding bones, muscles, or tissues. The pressure interrupts proper nerve function, causing pain, numbness, and weakness.
In some cases, old scar tissue from previous injuries can also cause pinched nerves. Other causes of pinched nerves include:
- arthritis
- stress
- repetitive movements
- sports
- obesity
Pain from this condition usually lasts a short period of time and often results in no permanent damage once treated.
However, if there’s persistent pressure on a nerve, you may experience chronic pain and may be at an increased risk of permanent nerve damage.
The most common treatment for a pinched nerve is rest. If your muscles or nerves are affected, your doctor may recommend physical therapy to increase your mobility and strength.
For short-term relief, you doctor may also prescribe anti-inflammatory medication to reduce pain. More severe cases of pinched or damaged nerves may require surgery.
Arthritis is a common culprit of back and hip pain. It can also be felt in the front of your thigh and groin area. Often a result of aging and gradual wear and tear on the body, arthritis is inflammation of one or more of your joints.
Common symptoms of arthritis include:
- pain
- swelling
- stiffness
- decreased range of motion
- numbness
Treatment for arthritis focuses on relieving symptoms and improving mobility.
Your doctor may recommend anti-inflammatory medications or pain relievers.
They might also prescribe disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, which are drugs meant to slow or stop your immune system from attacking your joints.
Your doctor may also recommend physical therapy to strengthen your joints and increase your range of motion. For more severe cases, surgery may be required.
Also called a ruptured or slipped disk, a herniated disk occurs when the “jelly” inside your spinal disk is pushed out through the harder exterior of the disk. This can cause nearby nerves to become irritated, often causing pain and numbness.
Some people who have a herniated disk, however, may never experience painful symptoms.
Other than back pain, you may also experience symptoms including:
- thigh pain
- hip and butt pain
- tingling
- weakness
To treat a herniated disk, your doctor may recommend muscle relaxers and prescription drugs to reduce pain. Surgery or physical therapy are also treatments for this condition if your symptoms worsen or if your condition begins to affect your quality of life.
Your sacroiliac joint — also referred to as the SI joint — connects your hip bones to your sacrum, the triangular bone between the lumbar spine and the tailbone. This joint is meant to absorb shock between your upper body, pelvis, and legs.
Strain or injury to the SI joint can cause radiating pain in your hip, back, and groin area.
Treatment focuses on reducing pain and restoring normal motion to the SI joint.
Your doctor may recommend rest, pain medication, and hot and cold compresses to reduce muscle tension and inflammation. An injection of a steroid into the joint is often helpful. In more severe cases, your doctor may recommend surgery.
Back and hip pain are common ailments. They may, however, also be symptoms of more serious medical conditions. If your pain worsens or is accompanied by irregular symptoms, schedule a visit with your doctor.
Together, you and your doctor can discuss the best form of treatment to help you cope with your pain and improve your condition.
What’s Causing My Lower Back and Hip Pain?
You can develop lower back and hip pain due to injury or strain. But it can also occur due to an underlying health condition.
Experiencing lower back pain is quite common. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, close to 80 percent of adults have lower back pain at some point in their lives. The pain can range in intensity from a dull ache to sharp sensations that affect your mobility and quality of life.
Back pain can easily be mistaken for hip pain and discomfort. The joint of your hip is located near your spine. For that reason, injuries to your hip can resemble or actually cause back pain. In addition to hip and lower back pain, you may also experience:
- groin pain on the affected side
- stiffness
- pain while walking or moving
- trouble sleeping
Here are five possible causes of lower back and hip pain.
Acute back pain is often the result of muscle sprains or strains.
Sprains occur when your ligaments are overstretched and sometimes torn.
Strains, on the other hand, are caused by stretching — and possible tearing — of your tendons or muscles. Though the immediate reaction is pain in your back, you may also experience dull aches or discomfort in your hip.
Treatment for sprains and strains includes proper stretching and, in more severe cases, physical therapy. If your pain worsens, schedule a visit to your doctor to get proper treatment and to ensure your pain isn’t the result of a more serious injury.
A pinched nerve is an uncomfortable condition that may cause shooting pain, tingling, and discomfort, particularly if it occurs in your back, spine, or hip.
It occurs when too much pressure is applied to a nerve by surrounding bones, muscles, or tissues. The pressure interrupts proper nerve function, causing pain, numbness, and weakness.
In some cases, old scar tissue from previous injuries can also cause pinched nerves. Other causes of pinched nerves include:
- arthritis
- stress
- repetitive movements
- sports
- obesity
Pain from this condition usually lasts a short period of time and often results in no permanent damage once treated.
However, if there’s persistent pressure on a nerve, you may experience chronic pain and may be at an increased risk of permanent nerve damage.
The most common treatment for a pinched nerve is rest. If your muscles or nerves are affected, your doctor may recommend physical therapy to increase your mobility and strength.
For short-term relief, you doctor may also prescribe anti-inflammatory medication to reduce pain. More severe cases of pinched or damaged nerves may require surgery.
Arthritis is a common culprit of back and hip pain. It can also be felt in the front of your thigh and groin area. Often a result of aging and gradual wear and tear on the body, arthritis is inflammation of one or more of your joints.
Common symptoms of arthritis include:
- pain
- swelling
- stiffness
- decreased range of motion
- numbness
Treatment for arthritis focuses on relieving symptoms and improving mobility.
Your doctor may recommend anti-inflammatory medications or pain relievers.
They might also prescribe disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, which are drugs meant to slow or stop your immune system from attacking your joints.
Your doctor may also recommend physical therapy to strengthen your joints and increase your range of motion. For more severe cases, surgery may be required.
Also called a ruptured or slipped disk, a herniated disk occurs when the “jelly” inside your spinal disk is pushed out through the harder exterior of the disk. This can cause nearby nerves to become irritated, often causing pain and numbness.
Some people who have a herniated disk, however, may never experience painful symptoms.
Other than back pain, you may also experience symptoms including:
- thigh pain
- hip and butt pain
- tingling
- weakness
To treat a herniated disk, your doctor may recommend muscle relaxers and prescription drugs to reduce pain. Surgery or physical therapy are also treatments for this condition if your symptoms worsen or if your condition begins to affect your quality of life.
Your sacroiliac joint — also referred to as the SI joint — connects your hip bones to your sacrum, the triangular bone between the lumbar spine and the tailbone. This joint is meant to absorb shock between your upper body, pelvis, and legs.
Strain or injury to the SI joint can cause radiating pain in your hip, back, and groin area.
Treatment focuses on reducing pain and restoring normal motion to the SI joint.
Your doctor may recommend rest, pain medication, and hot and cold compresses to reduce muscle tension and inflammation. An injection of a steroid into the joint is often helpful. In more severe cases, your doctor may recommend surgery.
Back and hip pain are common ailments. They may, however, also be symptoms of more serious medical conditions. If your pain worsens or is accompanied by irregular symptoms, schedule a visit with your doctor.
Together, you and your doctor can discuss the best form of treatment to help you cope with your pain and improve your condition.
Lower back hurts, radiates to the buttock and leg: causes, how to treat
Lower back pain radiates to the leg and buttock – a complaint that doctors hear quite often. This unpleasant phenomenon can significantly limit a person’s ability to live a full life. But more importantly, such a pain syndrome is only a symptom. It is necessary to eliminate the root cause that provokes the appearance of painful sensations.
Can lower back pain radiate to the leg
Yes, it can, and this is a rather alarming symptom. The spine is partially composed of interconnected nerves and performs the most important functions in the body of each person. Therefore, lower back problems inevitably affect overall health. It is impossible to analyze and decipher the causes of lower back pain radiating to the leg without appropriate diagnostic studies and treatment. As the primary source of pain in the lower back, which radiates to the leg and buttock, the corresponding section of the spine acts.
But his pathological conditions are different.
Orthopedic diseases and pathologies
When a bone is deformed or its position is changed, we are talking about orthopedic problems. As a result, the bone begins to compress the nerve endings. There are the following diseases of this type, in which lower back pain radiates to the leg:
Lumbar disc herniation
Intervertebral hernia is a deformation of the vertebral disc that appears after prolonged osteochondrosis or other pathological condition. When this problem appears, the lower back often hurts, gives to the buttock and leg. The pain is usually continuous, but not particularly intense, with an exacerbation – unbearable.
Inflammation of the sciatic nerve
The sciatic nerve is recognized as one of the most important parts of the spine because it drives the limbs. With problems with this nerve, lower back pain radiates to the leg and buttocks, this disease often accompanies other previously unnoticed pathologies.
Effect on nerve endings
In fact, this is compression of the nerves by tumors and bones. This is a side effect of orthopedic diseases, which gradually distort the structure of the spinal column. You can roughly determine the source of pain by analyzing which side the lower back hurts and which leg the pain gives off.
Osteochondrosis
It often occurs as a cause of lower back pain that radiates to the leg. Osteochondrosis – damage to various tissues of the spine. This often becomes the reason why the lower back hurts, and the pain radiates to the leg and buttock. Usually pain in osteochondrosis is incessant aching or periodic acute.
Sciatica
Sciatica is an inflammation of the vertebral nerves that occurs as a complication of many diseases. With sciatica, pain in the lower back gives off to the leg and buttock quite often, since the nerve endings of the body are interconnected.
Non-orthopedic diseases
Orthopedic pathologies are not always the cause of this specific symptom.
Lower back pain radiating to the right or left leg is often due to traumatic injuries or neurological problems. Symptoms are usually not limited to pain sensations: they can become numb and lose the ability to touch the limb.
What is lumboischialgia
Lumboischalgia is a specific disease in which the sciatic nerve becomes inflamed as it exits the spine. The pain often radiates beyond the back. Lumbar ischialgia is one of the common reasons why the lower back hurts and radiates to the buttock and leg.
How to relieve an attack of pain
Even with qualified treatment of the underlying disease, pain still manifests itself for a long time. If lower back pain radiates to the buttock and leg, acute attacks occur. You can remove or lighten them in several ways:
These measures will help relieve or alleviate the pain, but will not cure its causes. Therefore, if the lower back hurts, gives to the buttock and leg, you should definitely make an appointment with the doctor and undergo the treatment prescribed after the examination.
Which doctor to contact
If lower back pain radiates to the buttock and leg, patients ask themselves the question: which specialist will answer, why did this happen, and how to eliminate the root cause? Different specialists deal with this problem: neuropathologist , orthopedist – traumatologist , therapist and chiropractor.
But initially it is better to go to a therapist who will conduct an initial examination, prescribe a medical examination and, having received the results, will give a referral to a narrow specialist. If the pain in the lower back gives to the leg, you can not self-medicate. Without knowing the true cause of the disease, an incompetent person risks worsening his condition by wrong actions. Even a specialist in the field of medicine cannot make a diagnosis without a preliminary thorough examination.
You can make an appointment with specialists online , as well as by phone 8 (812) 901-03-03.
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Top 10 exercises for lower back pain
Likbez
Sports and fitness
November 26, 2022
A simple 15-minute complex will ease your pain.
Iya Zorina
Author of Lifehacker, athlete, CCM
Why does the lower back hurt
Lower back pain is a very common problem and the second most popular (after colds) reason to see a doctor.
The causes of pain can be very different: muscle injuries and spasms, ligament and tendon injuries, degeneration of the intervertebral discs, inflammation, nerve compression and even kidney stones or oncology.
If the pain has not yet caused you to see a doctor, it is most likely not severe and appears only from time to time. For example, after a long day at work in an uncomfortable position or in the morning.
You can easily cope with such sensations with the help of simple exercises.
Exercises for Low Back Pain
Research shows that low back pain is often accompanied by weakness of the back extensors, the muscles that surround the spine and stabilize the core.
The exercises will help strengthen a weak back, abs and buttocks, while gentle stretching will act as an analgesic, relieve muscle stiffness and increase range of motion.
1. Pelvic tilt lying on the back
Lie on your back, preferably on a firm surface. You can place a pillow under your head to make it more comfortable. Bend your knees and place your feet on the floor.
Tilt your pelvis back so there is no space between your lower back and the mat and your buttocks are slightly off the floor.
You can imagine that you are pulling the pubic bone towards the navel – this will help to make the right movement.
Hold this position for five seconds, and then relax, allowing the lower back to rise again from the floor in a natural arch. Repeat the exercise 10 times.
2. Glute Bridge
Lie on your back with your arms at your sides, bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor. Tear off the pelvis from the horizontal and lift it so that the body from the shoulders to the knees stretches in one line.
Squeeze your buttocks as hard as you can at the top, then slowly lower yourself back to the floor and repeat. If you want to increase the load, linger at the top point for 2-5 seconds. Repeat the exercise 10 times.
3. Dead bug
Lie on the floor, bend your knees and press your feet against the mat. Perform a pelvic tilt, as in the first exercise – press your lower back to the floor, tighten your abs.
Then, keeping the lower back tucked in, extend the arm above the head and lift the opposite leg.
Lower and repeat on the other side. Do five times with each.
4. One knee to chest
Lie on the floor on your back, bend your knees and press your feet into the mat. Raise one leg and place your hands on the thigh below the knee. Gently pull your knee up to your chest as close as you can, but don’t overdo it: you shouldn’t experience pain or much discomfort, just a gentle stretch.
Hold the position for 30 seconds, then release your hip and repeat on the other leg. Perform three times on each side.
5. Pull Both Knees to Chest
Grab both knees with your hands and pull them closer to your chest until your pelvis is off the floor. Press your hips to your stomach and hold in position for 30 seconds. Then return your feet to the floor, rest a little and repeat two more times.
6. Kneeling Back Stretch
Get on all fours with your knees under your hips and your palms under your shoulders. Then move your pelvis back and sit on your heels, lower your head.
Spend 30 seconds in this position. Feel the stretch in your back and shoulders.
7. Elbow Cobra Pose
Lie on your stomach, stretch your legs, rest your forearms on the floor and rest your head on the mat with your forehead. Leaning on your hands, tear your chest off the mat and stretch your crown to the ceiling.
Do not lift your hips off the floor, do not pull your shoulders up to your ears. Feel your stomach stretch. Hold this position for 30 seconds, lower your chest to the floor, rest a little and repeat two more times.
8. Back Curl
Lie on your back, place your hands on your chest, bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor. Press your upper body into the floor and try not to lift your shoulder blades throughout the exercise. Twist your torso and place both knees on the floor to the right of your body. Then return them to the starting point and repeat the same on the other side.
Move smoothly, trying to get your knees on the floor, but don’t push too hard.
Perform five times on each side.
9. Bird-Dog
Get on all fours with your knees under your hips and your palms under your shoulders. Tighten your abs to avoid arching your lower back. At the same time, lift your right leg and left arm off the floor and straighten them so that the limbs form one straight line with the body.
Make sure that the hips and shoulders do not warp, and the lower back does not sag. Perform five times on each side (for a total of 10). If you want to increase the load, fix the position for 2-5 seconds.
10. Arm and leg raises lying on the stomach
Lie on the floor on your stomach, stretch your arms straight over your head, straighten your legs. At the same time, lift the opposite arm and leg off the floor, lower it back and repeat on the other side. Do 10 reps in total, rest a bit, and then two more sets.
How often to do exercises for lower back pain
You can practice daily and even several times a day – the whole complex will take about 12-15 minutes, so you do not have to change your schedule much.
As for the time of day, you can do exercises both in the morning as a small exercise, and in the evening to relieve muscle tension at the end of the day.
If there are conditions, try doing some of the movements in between work – this will help disperse the blood, loosen stiff muscles and prevent pain.
What to do to prevent back pain from returning
If you lead a sedentary lifestyle, are approaching middle age and are overweight, a set of exercises will only relieve pain, but will not protect against its occurrence.
To forget about problems with the lower back, you need to move regularly and in a variety of ways. And this is not about strengthening and stretching the back, but about classes in which you train all muscle groups.
Sign up for yoga or go to the gym: strength training and stability and balance exercises show great results in relieving and preventing low back pain.
Attend training regularly – two or three times a week, and in time you will forget what a sore lower back is.