If the pain you feel extends to your arms, forearms, and hands, the source may be your cervical spine. On the other hand, if you feel the pain radiating to your legs, it may be a problem with the lumbar spine.
Contact your health care provider for back pain that: Lasts longer than a few weeks. Is severe and doesn't improve with rest. Spreads down one or both legs, especially if the pain goes below the knee.
Seek emergency medical care
Call 911 or emergency medical help or have someone drive you to the emergency room if your back pain: Occurs after a trauma, such as a car crash, bad fall or sports injury. Causes new bowel or bladder control problems. Occurs with a fever.
If your lower back pain is accompanied by other troubling symptoms, it may require immediate medical attention. Seek immediate medical care if your lower back pain is experienced in tandem with any of the following symptoms: Increasing weakness in your legs. Loss of bladder and/or bowel control.
Don't assume pain in the lower back, cramping in the legs and that “pins and needles” feeling are the result of a problem with your spine. Symptoms of artery disease, arthritis and neuropathy often masquerade as spinal pain.
If you are experiencing back pain symptoms, you should never ignore or try to suffer through the pain. Always consult your doctor and have open conversations. If you are not satisfied with your doctor or require specialized care, it is recommended to get a second opinion from a back pain specialist.
Blood and tissue cancers such as multiple myeloma, lymphoma, and melanoma can all cause lower back pain.
Prolonged nerve irritation, which occurs when back pain is left untreated for too long, can lead to permanent disabilities. Untreated vertebrae injuries can even lead to spinal stenosis (the narrowing of the spinal canal), radiculopathy (severe nerve pain), and nerve damage.
Acute, or short-term back pain lasts a few days to a few weeks. Most low back pain is acute. It tends to resolve on its own within a few days with self-care and there is no residual loss of function. In some cases a few months are required for the symptoms to disappear.
Your spinal disc is at the bottom of your back, so if you have pain in your lower back, you may assume it is a slipped disc. Furthermore, the feeling of pain will differ between the two. Muscle pain will feel like post-workout soreness, while disc pain will feel debilitating and tingly.
"Straining a muscle or spraining a ligament are the most common causes of lower back pain," says Dr. Palmer. "While they can be serious, these common causes of lower back pain aren't long-lasting — taking anywhere from a few days to heal or, at most, a few months."
If your back pain is unrelenting and not relieved by rest, you should immediately visit the closest emergency department. If the pain is accompanied by any of the following symptoms, you should also seek emergency care: Fever. Numbness.
Lower back pain is a common symptom of PMS, a condition most women experience during menstruation. However, severe lower back pain may be a symptom of conditions like PMDD and dysmenorrhea. It may also be a symptom of a more serious condition called endometriosis.
When back pain is caused by a cancerous spinal tumor, it typically: Starts gradually and worsens over time. Does not improve with rest and may intensify at night. Flares up as a sharp or shock-like pain in the upper or lower back, which may also go into the legs, chest, or elsewhere in the body.
In some cases, cancer may metastasize to the spine. The symptoms of metastatic cancer will vary depending on the size and location of the metastatic tumors. Tumors that affect the bones in the base of the spine may cause pain in the lower back. They may also cause the bones in this area to become weak or brittle.
Pain at the site of the tumor due to tumor growth. Back pain, often radiating to other parts of your body. Back pain that's worse at night. Loss of sensation or muscle weakness, especially in your arms or legs.
Staying in bed won't help you get better faster.
Research suggests that if you can find comfortable positions and keep moving, you may not need bed rest at all. Research shows that: Lying down longer than a day or two day isn't helpful for relieving back pain. People can recover more quickly without any bed rest.
While some back pain is only mild to moderate, severe back pain is when your pain is constant, intense or gets worse when you're resting or at night. 2. Your pain is persistent. If your back pain lasts longer than three months, it's considered chronic and may require a tailored treatment plan.
Lower back pain is very common. It can result from a strain (injury) to muscles or tendons in the back. Other causes include arthritis, structural problems and disk injuries. Pain often gets better with rest, physical therapy and medication.
Pain in inflammatory back pain is more often localized to the lumbar spine and may be associated with buttock pain that alternates from one side to another; though, it is patient characteristics, chronicity, and pain progression that set IBP apart from other causes.
Inflammatory back pain (IBP) is a condition of pain localized to the axial spine and sacroiliac joints that is chronic and is differentiated from mechanical back pain by a set of key diagnostic features.