Low Back Pain That Occurs with Other Symptoms
Very rarely, low back pain is caused by an underlying condition that requires medical attention, such as neurologic disease, cancer, or infection. When this happens, back pain appears together with specific additional symptoms. It then becomes necessary to seek medical attention. These symptoms are as follows:
- loss of bowel or bladder control
- pain so severe that you are unable to move
- numbness in the groin or rectal area
- extreme weakness in one or both legs
- fever just before the pain started
- recent serious illness that required treatment
- pain that awakens you
If a new episode of back pain involves a loss of bowel or bladder control, call your physician or healthcare professional or visit a clinic immediately. If you experience any of the other warning signs, call your physician or healthcare professional to schedule an appointment.
Unless you have one of these symptoms along with back pain, a medical examination of an aching back will generally not result in a particular diagnosis. Because there is often no relationship between physical damage and pain, diagnostic tests and studies, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are of uncertain value, unless there are specific additional symptoms that appeared together with the low back pain.
