What causes stiffness and pain on the lower back?

Posted on Tue, 21 Jan 2014

Question: I am having stiffness and pain on the lower edge of right dimple in my lower back. It spreads to the riGht outer side of my hip. The bigges pain is the feeling of something not catching or coming un latched when I get out of my car to walk. I can barely straighten up and step forward without excrutiating pain. What type of doctor would ruN the right tests to see what is going on? I don't want to be handed pain pills and pushed out of the office.

Answered by Dr. Saurabh Gupta (25 minutes later)

Brief Answer: See an orthopaedician Detailed Answer: Hello, Thanks for your query. Well looking into your problem I would like to tell you this there can be multiple causes but most common will be mechanical low back pain in which there is disc degenerstive changes and due to compression of nerves there is radiating pain . Other thing can be spondyloarthropathy which causes pain . Other rare causes can be discitis , metastasis etc. I will advise you to see an orthopaedician for this as physical examination and certain tests like straight leg raising test will be required for this and making the diagnosis . I do hope that you have found something helpful and I will be glad to answer any further query. Take care

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar