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7 Lower Back Pain Symptoms You Shouldn't Ignore
1. Headache or upper back pain.
Severe headaches, or headaches that are the worst you've ever experienced, require a doctor's visit. If you have a cold and experience extremely severe headaches, it could be due to sinusitis. If it's not a cold, it could be a more serious cause, such as a brain hemorrhage or brain tumor. Sometimes, a detailed medical history, physical examination, or diagnostic tools are needed to diagnose the condition. Some people experience upper back pain, occipital pain, or neck pain. This is often caused by poor posture, such as prolonged use of a mobile phone, hunched shoulders, or leaning too close to a computer screen. These postures can cause upper back pain. If left untreated or without lifestyle changes, it can lead to problems with the cervical discs or cervical spine joints, causing neck pain along with upper back pain.
📚 Adjust your phone posture to prevent cervical spondylosis.
📚 The more you bend over, the higher your risk of chronic neck pain (Text Neck Syndrome).
📚 Stop suffering from cervical disc herniation with the PSCD technique.
2. Chest pain
Pain or discomfort in the chest, throat, jaw, shoulder, arm, or abdomen. This type of pain can have many causes. While chest pain may be related to heart disease, it's important to note that heart conditions generally present as a feeling of tightness, discomfort, or unease rather than pain. Patients with heart disease often describe this as feeling like an elephant is sitting on their chest. The location of this discomfort is usually the upper chest, neck, jaw, left shoulder, or arm. Other symptoms may also accompany this pain.
For example, excessive sweating, fainting, and a pale complexion require immediate hospitalization. Sometimes, abdominal pain often accompanies nausea, which many mistakenly believe is gastrointestinal distress. In reality, it's a symptom of myocardial ischemia (lack of blood flow to the lower wall of the heart). However, symptoms in women are more difficult to diagnose because patients often mistake them for gastrointestinal issues like bloating, fullness, or a churning sensation, rarely considering heart disease. They often experience fatigue as well. Furthermore, the risk of heart disease increases significantly in menopausal women. Therefore, women should be cautious and not ignore these symptoms, thinking they are merely food poisoning.
3. Back pain, or lower back pain.
Lower back pain, or pain between the shoulder blades, is often mistaken for arthritis or muscle inflammation, but it can also be caused by other things, including heart disease or abdominal problems. Another dangerous condition is aortic dissection, where the major artery leaving the heart separates. Back pain from this can develop gradually or suddenly. Those at higher risk include people with high blood pressure, smokers, and those with diabetes. This condition is very dangerous and requires immediate medical attention.
📚 Persistent back pain…needs treatment.
📚 What is a herniated disc?
4. Stomach pain
Severe abdominal pain, if your appendix is still intact, could be one cause. However, other causes could include gallbladder inflammation, pancreatitis, perforated stomach, or bowel obstruction. Each of these can be distinguished by the following characteristics:
Appendicitis causes pain in the lower right abdomen, below the navel. There may be chills or fever, loss of appetite, and difficulty eating. Pancreatitis causes pain below the sternum, radiating to the back, and the pain can be severe. Some people have a history of heavy alcohol consumption, while others may have gallstones obstructing the body, which typically don't involve alcohol consumption. Stomach problems can also cause pain below the sternum radiating to the back, similar to pancreatitis.
However, if it's just gastritis, the symptoms won't be very severe; the pain will be localized to the epigastric region, and the lower abdomen will be fine. The patient will usually be able to walk. But if there's a perforated stomach, the epigastric pain will be severe, often accompanied by lower abdominal pain, usually in the lower right abdomen, but sometimes throughout the abdomen. Patients often need to be carried to the hospital because they can't walk. Intestinal obstruction usually presents with intermittent, cramping pain, like something moving around in the abdomen, along with constipation and inability to pass gas. There's often a history of abdominal surgery. Therefore, if you experience severe abdominal pain, you should see a doctor immediately.
5. Leg pain
Calf pain can be dangerous because it may be caused by deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a condition that can occur in the deep veins of the legs. This disease affects approximately 2 million Americans annually, and it's the same condition often seen in people who experience deep vein thrombosis after flying in economy class.
And when it happens, it disrupts daily life significantly, and the danger is that these small blood clots can break off and travel elsewhere, which, if it blocks a vital blood vessel like in the lungs, can be life-threatening.
Risk groups for this condition include cancer patients, obese individuals, pregnant women, and those who sit in one position for long periods while traveling or those who have been bedridden for extended periods after surgery and have limited physical activity. Sometimes, symptoms manifest as swelling and tightness in the calf without pain, or both pain and swelling in the calf muscles. Not only can venous thrombosis occur, but arterial thrombosis can also block arteries, causing severe leg pain, coldness, and paleness. Immediate hospitalization is crucial to prevent muscle death.
6. Foot pain
Burning feet and legs are a common symptom that many diabetic patients go untreated because they are unaware of their condition. This symptom, a burning or pins-and-needles sensation in the feet and legs, indicates nerve damage. In severe cases, diabetes can cause numbness in the feet, leading to symptoms like stepping on a cigarette without feeling it. Sometimes, ulcers develop and become infected, only discovered by the smell of the wound.
7. Strange pain.
Unexplained, vague, combined, or medically unexplained pains actually come in many forms. Some people might describe strange headaches, abdominal pain, or arm pain that they can't quite explain, or they might experience a combination of several types of pain. The pain may be chronic and not severe. A lack of clear description can lead to misunderstandings with specialists, especially in patients who are stressed.
Therefore, the more stressed or anxious you are, the more you should try to express your feelings. However, you may also experience back pain, lower back pain, or other unusual pains. When should you see a doctor? You need to observe whether your symptoms affect your daily life, prevent you from completing your work, or make it difficult to interact with others. If so, it's best to see a doctor for a checkup to rule out any underlying issues. Don't ignore the pain and endure it until it becomes a chronic and difficult-to-treat condition.
With care from S Hospital, a specialized hospital for spine and joint diseases.
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