All of these are conditions correct? Absolutely and this is just a short list in terms of everything that can actually cause your pain starting with the first one just back pain in general is it due to muscular issues or is it a mechanical problem did you upset one of the small joints in your back then we can talk about cervical radiculopathy and lumbar radiculopathy that word implies that there’s a dysfunction of the nerve so the nerve isn’t happy is it just inflammation that’s causing some nerve pain meaning pain going down your arm or down your leg or is there a herniated disc you know pushing on that nerve other sources of pain in your back degenerative disc disease the name is a misnomer everybody will develop degenerative disc disease it’s not a disease it’s part of the normal aging process however there are times where the disc will have an abnormal anatomy that can be painful. I think it’s also important to then note the top risk factors because if people are aware of these risk factors possibly maybe they can prevent this from happening aging which obviously we cannot prevent but maybe we can prepare better for that genetics that’s a big one occupational hazards sedentary lifestyle and excess weight that one we can work on can’t we. Absolutely some of these you can modify some you can’t occupational hazards the more physical your work the more heavy loads the more abnormal postures you’re putting your spine in the higher risk of you developing some back pain on the opposite extreme sedentary work is also a risk factor prolonged sitting. Sitting down a lot there’s a lot of people that are behind their desk in front of the computer they’re not moving a lot and we tend to hear doctors say get up for a few minutes walk around if you have 30 seconds right? That’s key and I tell my patients that all the time if you have a chance get up every 45 minutes walk to the bathroom go get some water and reevaluating your workstation you know you want to make sure if you’re sitting behind the desk your computer is eye-level you have a back support you want to make sure that your spine is as close to possible as it could be in its natural alignment.