The term lumbago is not a medical diagnosis in a strict sense. It describes however an illness condition. Under the term lumbago, one understands a sudden, severe back pain of the lumbar vertebrae that leads to an inability to move.
The term lumbago deals with a concept that is widely used by people to indicate sudden back pain. The medical terminology for rheumatism of the muscles of the loin is lumbago or acute lumbago. Both termsdescribe pain in the region of the lumbar vertebrae. While the term acute lumbago still emphasizes sudden pain, the term lumbago can represent simple, perhaps chronic and persistent back pain. But both terms do not represent a true diagnosis, because they do not specify anything about the cause of the malady.
With sudden, painful and immobilizing incidents in the region of the neck and cervical vertebrae, one speaks in a similar manner from a stiff neck or an acute cervicalgia (cervicobrachialgia) or an acuteneck spasm (torticollis).
A differentiation in terminology should be made for the acute complaint exacerbation of chronic back pain, which usually has a less severe character.