We all get back pain from time to time but there are back pains that may spell danger. If you have any of these red flags with a back pain, then you need to act quickly. Urine or stool incontinence, urine retention, weakness in both legs, progressive numbness in both legs, fever, unrelenting or continuous pain or pain at rest. Other red flags include unexplained weight loss, drug abuse, immunosuppression, history of osteoporosis, history of cancer or a suspicion of current cancer.
Back pain may also be referred pain from the kidneys. Kidney stones or kidney infections often result in back pain so it is important to rule these out.
From my experience, patients with back pain usually expect an x-ray, CT scan or MRI to be done and usually leave the office disappointed if they don’t get one.
However, routine imaging is not necessary during the first 4-6 weeks of 
symptoms except any of the red flags discussed earlier is experienced. A thoracic-lumbar-sacral x-ray is a good basic imaging however, an MRI is the preferred imaging choice when any of the red flags are flagged.
Some are simple back pains, so, what can we do to prevent ‘simple’ Back Pains?
- You should learn proper bending technique: use your knee joints to bend rather
image source- drbookspan than your waist joint.
- Reduce your weight—a body mass index (weight/height squared) of between 18.5 – 24.9 is ideal
- Stop smoking, there are medications available to help you stop. Speak to your
doctor.
It’s always a good idea to see your doctor to check out a back pain!
