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Back pain - an overview

Key facts

  • Your back includes the area from your neck to your buttocks (bottom).
  • Most cases of back pain are not caused by a serious medical problem.
  • The best way to manage most cases of non-specific back pain is to keep active.
  • You can help prevent back pain by keeping a healthy weight, quitting smoking and having good posture.

What is back pain?

Back pain is pain that affects any area of your spine or the surrounding muscles, nerves and tissues.

Your back includes the area from your neck to your buttocks (bottom).

Your back is divided into 5 areas:

  • cervical — includes your neck area, from where your skull is attached to your spine, down to your shoulders
  • thoracic— the area where your ribs attach to your spine (backbone)
  • lumbar— lower back
  • sacrum — the triangular bone structure connected to your pelvis
  • coccyx (tailbone)— the small bone at the base of your spine
Illustration showing of the different regions of the spine; cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacrum and coccyx.

Diagram of the 5 regions of the spine.

Back pain can affect any area of the back, but it most commonly affects the lower back. It can also spread to other areas of the body, such as your legs.

Back pain can be acute or chronic:

  • Acute pain lasts for a short time and may have a clear cause, for example, an accident or injury.
  • Chronic pain lasts longer than 3 months and often needs to be managed differently.

What causes back pain?

Specific causes of back pain

Problems with any of the bones, muscles, nerves or connective tissues of the back can lead to back pain, including:

Back pain can also be caused by problems not related to your spine, such as:

It is not common for back pain to be caused by a serious condition, such as a spinal infection or cancer.

Non-specific back pain

In most cases, your doctor will not identify a cause of the pain. This pain is known as ‘non-specific back pain’.

You may feel frustrated if you have non-specific back pain, but it can also be reassuring that your pain is not caused by a serious medical problem.

Things that can worsen non-specific back pain include:

  • soft tissue injuries
  • stress
  • smoking
  • lack of exercise
  • living with overweight or obesity
  • a sudden increase in load on the spine — for example, lifting heavy objects or children when you are not used to it
  • mental health conditions, such as anxiety or depression

When should I see my doctor?

Warning:

If you or someone you know has back pain and difficulty breathing, or if the back pain occurs after a serious accident or injury, call triple zero (000) and ask for an ambulance.

You should see your doctor if:

  • you have new back pain
  • your back pain is not getting better after about 6 weeks
  • your pain is affecting your ability to sleep or perform daily activities

Your doctor can give you advice about steps you can take to relieve and manage your back pain.

When to seek urgent care

You should seek urgent care if:

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How is back pain treated?

Most episodes of acute back pain pass on their own without medical treatment.

Self-care at home

Staying active and returning to your regular activities as soon as possible is the best way to recover. If your pain is worse after you do some activities, take things more slowly and gently.

Heat packs may help relieve your back pain, but take care not to burn your skin.

Medicines for back pain

Your doctor may prescribe medicines to help relieve short-term back pain. The most common medicine recommended for back pain is oral or topical anti-inflammatory medicines (NSAIDs). You can apply topical medicines to your skin via a cream, gel, ointment, spray or patch. Paracetamol can also be used to help relieve back pain.

Your doctor may prescribe opioid medicines for short-term relief if you have acute or severe pain. Ask your doctor how long to take them and when to stop.

LOOKING FOR A MEDICINE? — To search by brand or active ingredient, use the Medicines information search feature.

Other treatment options

Other treatment options include:

  • physiotherapy and exercise therapy — this can be helpful to treat back pain and strengthen your muscles
  • injections — steroid and other injections may be used to reduce back pain
  • surgery — this may be needed to treat an underlying problem that is causing your back pain
  • mindfulness, cognitive behavioural therapy and other mental health services — these may be helpful to deal with distress, fear or anxiety related to your back pain, and may also improve your pain symptoms

For advice and to get connected to local mental health services, call Medicare Mental Health on 1800 595 212. Check the operating times.

What are the complications of back pain?

Back pain can have a significant impact on your health and wellbeing. People with chronic back pain are at a higher risk of suffering from psychological distress and may experience difficulties with their work or daily activities.

Learning to manage back pain can help reduce its impact on your health and wellbeing.

Can back pain be prevented?

There are many things you can do to lessen and manage back pain, such as:

There are also ways to prevent back pain at work, such as:

  • making sure your back is well supported in your home or office workspace
  • taking regular breaks to stand up and stretch if you are sitting for long periods of time
  • following safe manual handling guidelines in your workplace

Resources and support

WorkSafe Victoria provides information and videos explaining manual handling in the workplace and how to prevent injury (Opens in new tab).

Musculoskeletal Health Australia has information about back pain and tips to manage and prevent back pain (Opens in new tab).

Learn about why it is important to be physically active (Opens in new tab) on the Australian Physiotherapy Association website.

Call the National Arthritis and Back Pain Help Line (Opens in new tab) on 1800 263 265.

For help to quit smoking, call Quitline (Opens in new tab) on 13 7848 (13 QUIT)

Languages other than English

Health Translations (Opens in new tab) website provides videos in many languages about understanding and managing pain.

NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI) (Opens in new tab) has information about pain management in other languages

Information for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples

For help quitting smoking, call the Quitline for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities (Opens in new tab) on 13 7848 (13 QUIT) and ask to speak to a counsellor for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples.  

You can also call the healthdirect helpline on 1800 022 222 (known as NURSE-ON-CALL in Victoria). A registered nurse is available to speak with you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Last reviewed: April 2026

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