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.
A common cause of back pain is an injury like a pulled muscle (strain). Sometimes, medical conditions like a slipped disc, sciatica (a trapped nerve) or ankylosing spondylitis can cause back pain. Very rarely, back pain can be a sign of a serious problem such as a broken bone, cancer or an infection.
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.
A dull ache when you move
If your muscles are strained, they will feel like a sore or tight ache. A pulled muscle would not feel hot, tingling, or electric like an irritated nerve root would. The pain would only subside while you are relaxed and resting, as the tension and spasms are alleviated.
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.
Blood and tissue cancers such as multiple myeloma, lymphoma, and melanoma can all cause lower back pain.
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.
Pancreas. Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas, which is an organ that plays an important role in digestion and blood sugar regulation. The pain from pancreatitis may start in your upper abdomen and radiate to your lower back. The pain can be severe and disabling, so be sure to see a doctor right away.
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.
Back pain red flags – Night Pain
Back pain that worsens at night or while you're sleeping might indicate something more severe like an infection or cancer. This is especially true if you also have other symptoms in addition to your back discomfort when you sleep or relax.
When should I see my doctor? If you have back pain and have lost feeling or movement in your limbs or are having problems controlling your bowels or bladder, call triple 000 immediately and ask for an ambulance. You should see your doctor or other health care professional for further advice if: your pain bothers you.
An MRI is best used when your doctor suspects a specific problem—something other than the muscle strain that causes most low back pain. An MRI usually isn't done when simple muscle strain is suspected, because: An MRI will not show muscle strains or other problems with soft tissues.
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.
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.
Pain is often described as sharp or burning. Numbness or tingling. People who have a herniated disk often have radiating numbness or tingling in the body part served by the affected nerves.
If you have a herniated lumbar disc, you may feel pain that radiates from your low back area, down one or both legs, and sometimes into your feet (called sciatica). You may feel a pain like an electric shock that is severe whether you stand, walk, or sit.
Check if it's a slipped disc
numbness or tingling in your shoulders, back, arms, hands, legs or feet. neck pain. problems bending or straightening your back. muscle weakness.
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.
You feel kidney pain in the area where your kidneys are located: Near the middle of your back, just under your ribcage, on each side of your spine. Your kidneys are part of the urinary tract, the organs that make urine (i.e., pee) and remove it from your body.