Other types of back pain

Nonspecific low back pain

 

This is the most common type of low back pain. The majority of cases with a sudden-onset (acute) are classed as nonspecific. This is the type of low back pain most people will have at some point in their lives. It is called nonspecific because it is usually not clear what is actually causing the pain.  The severity of the pain can vary from mild to severe.

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Nerve root pain - often called sciatica

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This occurs in less than 1 case in 20 of acute low back pain. Nerve root pain means that a nerve coming out from the spinal cord (the root of the nerve) is irritated or pressed on. (Many people call this a trapped nerve.) You feel pain along the course of the nerve. Therefore, you typically feel pain down a leg, sometimes as far as to the calf or foot. The pain in the leg or foot is often worse than the pain in the back. The irritation or pressure on the nerve may also cause pins and needles, numbness or weakness in part of a buttock, leg or foot.
 

About 9 in 10 cases of nerve root back pain or sciatica are due to a prolapsed disc - often called a slipped disc. (A disc does not actually slip. What happens is that part of the inner softer part of the disc bulges out (prolapses) through a weakness in the outer harder part of the disc. The prolapsed part of the disc can press on a nerve nearby.