What increases my risk for acute low back pain?

Many factors can increase a person's risk for low back pain. Some of the most commonplace reasons for low back pain include biomechanical predisposition (body structures that are innately susceptible to dysfunction), pregnancy, trauma or compression injuries to the spine, family history of back pain, and previous surgical procedures. Though most of these risks are unavoidable, there are many other precautions that can be taken to lower other common factors that can heighten the risk for low back pain, such as poor posture, lack of exercise, obesity, smoking, stress, long periods of inactivity (e.g. prolonged sitting), and heavy lifting.