I had to have a CT scan done on my abdomen to look for an aneurysm. Fortunately, there was nothing there. But they did find some severe arthritis in the low back area. I don’t have any pain or symptoms that I’m aware of. Why not?

That’s a good question and one that researchers have not been able to answer despite many studies on low back pain. It’s widely accepted that many people with degenerative changes in the spine can have no symptoms at all — while others with no visible changes on X-ray and CT scans have severe, chronic low back pain.

Scientists are actively looking for the source of the pain. Injecting a numbing and antiinflammatory drug into or around the facet (spinal) joint gives pain relief to enough people to consider this area as a potential source of back pain.

But a recent study comparing CT scans of the lumbar spine in patients with and without low back pain has brought this assumption back into question. There were many people with degenerative changes of the lumbar spine (and especially the facet joint) that did not have any low back pain.

In fact, by age 40, one-fourth of all the adults tested had signs of degenerative changes. And by age 70, the majority of people had significant signs of bone spurs, cartilage thinning or thickening, and hardening of the joint capsule. These changes were more common among women of all ages but the incidence of back pain wasn’t any greater.

So, we may be back to the drawing board on this one. Future studies will focus on finding both the source and the cause of low back pain. Variables such as age, gender, general health, body weight, and genetics may play a role either individually or when combined together. There’s some support for the idea that arthritis is associated with risks for the development of other conditions to develop such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and ulcers. It remains to be seen what is the exact connection there.