Dr. Jose Mena, Interventional Spine Specialist with Miami Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Institute, explains acute is the pain for the first 30 days, and chronic is when the pain persists more than three months, and the more chronic it becomes, the more difficult it is to treat.

Back pain can occur with scoliosis, spondylolisthesis, arthritis, and spinal stenosis. “Scoliosis will be more of a chronic condition that normally occurs when the bones are fusing and they are forming. When you get into 18 years old, you’re done with puberty, the bones fuse and pretty much that’s when you develop scoliosis,” he says.