What Really Causes Back Pain Numbness

Not only does your back hurt, but you have to put up with the numbness felt. This can be a source of nuisance, since it feels like your back and extremities have “gone to sleep.”

A cause for numbness in your back may be due to spinal stenosis. This happens when the spinal canal narrows. Men and women over the age of 50 are particularly susceptible to this due to labor intensive jobs.

Spinal stenosis can be an inherited condition or acquired. It is due to degenerative arthritis in which joint tissues and discs narrow in the spinal canal and places pressure on the spinal cord or nerve roots.

Back pain results along with pain and numbness in the legs, feet, arms and hands. Of course this depends on which part of the spinal cord is being compressed. If it happens in the neck area, the upper extremities or arms are affected. If it happens in the lower back, the lower extremities or legs are affected.

Certain people have a higher risk of developing back pain as well as numbness. There really isn’t too much you can do once the spinal canal narrows. When young, rarely do we think what will happen to our backs as we age. Work that involves a great amount of manual labor will take its toll on our backs. Tingling in the legs and arms begin initially intermittently but then as the condition worsens, becomes a part of our daily lives.

You definitely will need to know the real cause of your numbness and back pain. Your physician will take your personal information which will include your age, medical history and your current state of health. This will in effect determine how to treat your back pain and any numbness or tingling you may be experiencing. A specific cause will have been determined and the appropriate treatment initiated. Unfortunately there are some conditions which will never be cured but can be made to tolerate on a daily basis