ABSTRACT
Low back pain (LBP) is a commonly encountered complaint in clinical practice with a significant economic burden to the society. The objective of study was to evaluate the changes seen on MRI in patients with low back pain due to various non-traumatic causes and to distinguish various causes of low back pain with level of spinal involvement. Methods: This descriptive observational study was carried from October 2015 to October 2017 in 106 patients with low back pain who underwent MRI of the lower spine at Department of Radio-Diagnosis, Chalmeda AnandRao institute of Medical sciences. Patients who met the inclusion/exclusion criteria were included in the study. Results: More than 40% of patients (n=43; 40.57%) were in the age group of 41 to 60 years (Figure 24). There were 29 patients in the age group of 21 to 40 years (27.36%), followed by age group of > 60 years (n =21; 19.8%) and least patients were in the age group of <20 years (n =13; 12.26%. Conclusions: We concluded that 106 patients, degenerative changes were the commonest cause for low back pain followed by infective and neoplastic etiologies. The ability of MRI to detect morphological abnormalities, extent of lesion and nerve root compression all help in complete evaluation of low back pain.