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Toggle: English / SpanishLow back pain - chronic - Symptom
Alternative Names
Nonspecific back pain; Backache - chronic; Lumbar pain - chronic; Pain - back - chronic; Chronic back pain - low
Symptoms:
You may feel a variety of symptoms if you have back pain, including:
- Dull aching
- Sharp pain
- Tingling or burning sensation
- Weakness in your legs or feet
Low back pain can differ from person to person. The pain may be mild, or it can be so severe that you are unable to move.
Depending on the cause of your back pain, you may also have pain in your leg, hip, or on the bottom of your foot. See: Sciatica
Signs and tests:
During the physical exam, the health care provider will try to pinpoint the location of the pain and figure out how it affects your movement.
What other tests you have depend on your medical history and symptoms (including how the symptoms developed). Tests that might be ordered include:
- Blood tests, especially a complete blood count and erythrocyte sedimentation rate
- CT scan of the lower spine
- MRI scan of the lower spine
- Myelogram (an x-ray or CT scan of the spine after dye has been injected into the spinal column)
- X-ray
- Reviewed last on: 5/1/2011
- Kevin Sheth, MD, Department of Neurology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
References
Henschke N, Ostelo RW, van Tulder MW, Vlaeyen JW, Morley S, Assendelft WJ, Main CJ. Behavioural treatment for chronic low-back pain. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2010;(7).
Clarke JA, van Tulder MW, Blomberg SE, et al. Traction for low-back pain with or without sciatica. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2010;(5):CD003010.
Smeets RJ, Vlaeyen JW, Hidding A, et al. Chronic low back pain: physical training, graded activity with problem solving training, or both? The one-year post-treatment results of a randomized controlled trial. Pain. 2008;134:263-276.
Urguhart DM, Hoving JL, Assendelft WW, et al. Antidepressants for non-specific low back pain. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2010:(10):CD001703.
Chou R, Huffman LH. Medications for acute and chronic low back pain: a review of the evidence for an American Pain Society/American College of Physicians clinical practice guideline. Ann Intern Med. 2007;147:505-514.
Chou R, Huffman LH. Nonpharmacologic therapies for acute and chronic low back pain: a review of the evidence for an American Pain Society/American College of Physicians clinical practice guideline. Ann Intern Med. 2007;147:492-504.
Misulis KE. Lower back and lower limb pain. In: Bradley WG, Daroff RB, Fenichel GM, Jankovic J, eds. Bradley: Neurology in Clinical Practice. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Butterworth-Heinemann Elsevier; 2008:chap 33.
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