When should back pain be alarming?
The first answer a Chiropractor would usually give is, ‘Well always, right?’
‘If you have back pain you must go and seek professional help, come and see me at West Chiropractic.’
Not always the case and this applies to both ends of the spectrum, if someone for the first time has a low-level niggle for 24 hours should they go and see a Chiropractor immediately that day? Maybe not, but if it reoccurs several times that week then absolutely.
I personally feel everyone should get checked by a Chiropractor at least once in their life, just checked. But that is a whole different story (stay tuned for next week’s blog, shameless plug sorry).
We want to talk about the other end of the spectrum when back pain is so serious that even a Chiropractor would refer you on.
Back pain is no joke as it generally starts as a low-level issue, but without proper care it can develop into something more serious.
We should always be looking to get rid of back pain and prevent it from coming back, but we can talk about when back pain is alarming and needs urgent care.
Which back pain is serious?
All back pain can become serious if it is left too long without proper care and attention. This doesn’t apply as much to knee pain, or shoulder pain. The reason being is that in the back you have the spinal cord, which is a vital structure to supply information to our body and organs. For your digestive system to move food through your gut and for your legs to move there needs to be some communication from the brain to these areas.
Without the messages going to these areas, it can cause issues. As Chiropractors the issues we see would be pain in the lower back and pelvic region, pain in the legs (sciatica) and often weakness.
We are trained to diagnose all conditions that can mimic back pain and can be able to recognise red flags and know when to refer on.
We get concerned when there is loss of bowel or bladder function. You may have heard of the condition called Cauda Equina Syndrome. Cauda is Latin for tail and equina is horse, so horses’ tail. This is where the spinal cord tethers into many different nerves in the low back to go into the legs and bowel and bladder.
The concern we have is that if there is a disc prolapse (the disc material comes out) it can press on the cauda and if it is left for too long can cause permanent damage to those nerves, this can cause issues with walking and your bowel or bladder.
This is rare, so please don’t be alarmed, this post is for awareness. If you have ever gone to A+E with back pain this is one of the first things, they rule out.
When we talk about bowel and bladder issues, we mean:
- Inability to control the function of your bowel or bladder (meaning you cannot stop yourself going to the toilet)
- Lack of sensation around the perineum (area between your bottom and groin) so you cannot feel the toilet paper on your bottom when going to the toilet.
If you have these symptoms with back pain and leg pain this would be time to call a specialist.
When should I go back to the A+E for back pain?
Cauda equina syndrome is an absolute medical emergency but as I say it is rare and 99.9% of most back pain cases do not need this level of urgency, it is just for your awareness.
Can you have incontinence and not have Cauda Equina Syndrome?
Yes, it could be completely unrelated, but best to check with a specialist. We often see post-partum mothers where their pelvic floor is still recovering from labour and there is incontinence, this is normal and takes some time to regain the strength in the pelvic floor.
If you do know someone who wants more advice, please send them our details. You can send them this blog and they can request a free copy of our book which has posture related exercises in it as well. Click here for FREE book.
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