Back pain can be used to describe pain anywhere along the spine from the neck or cervical spine, through to the thoracic spine that supports the chest wall, down to the lumbar spine, sacrum and coccyx.
Coccyx pain or coccydinia is felt in the bottom at the very lowest tip of the spine.
Low back pain is felt in the lumbar and sacral area.
Thoracic pain is that which is felt behind the chest wall or thorax.
Cervical pain is also known as neck pain.
Doctors categorise back or spinal pain in terms of ‘mechanical’ or ‘referred’ symptoms. Mechanical symptoms are those were pain is felt only in the spinal area. Referred spinal pain is pain in the spine which is also perceived to radiate elsewhere e.g a leg as in classical scaitica with pain down the back of the leg to the foot; or an arm or a joint such as the shoulder or hip. This is often indicative of narrowing in the spine with nerve irritation resultant from the narrowing.
Mechanical back pain is caused by inflammation in the intervetebral discs and facet joints. In the sacral area the sacro-iliac joints can become involved.
It is important to note that, in my opinion, the best Radiological indicator of inflammatory spinal pain is a SPECT CT scan. More can be found out about it in the section on SPECT CT scanning. MRI scans are about structural appearances. Spinal structures can appear normal on a MRI but be inflamed on SPECT CT imaging and vice versa.
X-rays are NOT indicated UNLESS there are RED FLAG symptoms and/or signs of infection or possible cancer.
Back pain is the commonest pain complaint in the pain clinic. It is often very much part of a chronic pain syndrome and the best approach to treatment is via a biopsychosocial model.
Related
Neck Pain Thoracic Back Pain Low Back Pain Coccydinia: Painful Coccyx (Tail Bone) MRI Scans CT Scans SPECT CT scans X-Rays
