There are many different reasons that someone could experience a spinal injury. And these causes can have an effect on symptoms and treatment options.
Trauma
Trauma (quick injury) is a common cause of spinal injuries. Automobile accidents, falls, gunshots, diving accidents, war injuries, sports injuries and any injury involving the stretching, bruising, application of pressure and severing of the spine are considered trauma. Traumatic spinal injuries are classified into five types, according to the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA).
General Wear and Tear
Discal herniations can occur from general wear and tear, such as jobs that require constant sitting, but especially jobs that require lifting. Traumatic injury to lumbar discs commonly occurs from lifting while bent at the waist, rather than lifting while using the legs. Minor back pain is an indicator of general wear and tear that may result in a traumatic event from bending to pick up a heavy backpack from the floor or even just a pencil. When the spine is straight, such as standing or lying down, internal pressure is equalized on all parts of the discs. While sitting or bending to lift, internal pressure on the disc can move from 17 psi (lying down) to over 300 psi (lifting with a rounded back).
The common “slipped disc” (contents of the disc move or slip into the spinal nerve canal) occurs when the disc membrane covering (the annulus fibrosis) is compressed on the front (stomach side) while sitting or bending, and extruded (stretched) thinly on the rear (back side). The combination of membrane thinning from stretching and increased internal pressure results in the rupture of the confining membrane (annulus fibrosis). The jelly-like contents of the disc then move into the spinal canal, pressurizing the spinal nerves, producing intense and usually disabling pain.
Tumor
Spinal tumors, including meningiomas (usually benign tumors that develop in the membrane that surrounds the spinal cord and brain), ependymomas (a tumor that arises from the ependyma, a tissue of the central nervous system and is spinal when found in adults and intracranial in children), astrocytomas (a tumor of the central nervous system), and metastatic cancer (disease that has spread from one part of the body to another through blood vessels or the lymphatic system) can result in back pain.
Ischemia
Ischemia is the restriction of blood supply to an area and can lead to damage or dysfunction of tissue around the spinal cord. Dissecting aortic aneurysms, emboli and arteriosclerosis are just some ways that blood supply could be restricted from the tissue around the spinal cord.
Developmental Disorders
Spinal injuries that occur while the spine is developing can be considered birth disorders, like spina bifida and can often be corrected by surgery soon after birth.
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Friedreich’s ataxia and spinocerebellar ataxia are genetic diseases that affect motor movement and muscular coordination. In the former, the spinal cord becomes thinner and nerve impulses are reduced due to lack of insulation around the nerve cells.
Additional Causes of Spinal Injuries and Back Pain
- Demyelinative diseases, such as Multiple Sclerosis
- Transverse myelitis, resulting from spinal cord stroke, inflammation or other causes
- Vascular malformations, such as arteriovenous malformation (AVM), dural arteriovenous fistula (AVF), spinal hemangioma, cavernous angioma and aneurysm
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