Back pain isback pain, right?
It often occurs in problems with chest and belly organs.
For example, an infection in your kidneys may cause pain in your back or sides.
Verywell / Gary Ferster
Kidney Stones
Kidney stonesare hard collections of crystals that can form in one or both kidneys.
They can cause sharp pain in your back and sides below your ribs.
The pain can come in agonizing waves until you finally pass the stone.
Kidney stones can form when your urine has high levels of certain minerals, like calcium and oxalate.
The minerals combine with salts and create pebble-like pieces.
Symptoms
If you have kidney stones, you may notice blood in your urine.
You might also have pain while urinating, nausea, and vomiting.
Preventing Kidney Stones
If you’ve had a stone, you’re more like to get another.
Women should drink 11.5 cups of fluids each day, and men should drink 15.5 cups.
You might also want to cut back on how much tea you drink.
Tea containshigh levels of oxalate.
Foods that are also high in this mineral include:
Another tip is to watch your salt intake.
Check labels, because even foods like salad dressing can have surprising amounts of hidden salt.
Experts advise limiting yourself to less than 2 grams per day.
That’s less than 1 teaspoon of salt per day.
Prostate Problems
Back pain in men can be a sign of a serious problem with their prostate.
The prostate is a walnut-size gland located between the penis and bladder.
These bones can weaken and may collapse, compressing the spinal cord or nerve roots.
Severe compression of the lumbar nerve roots is known ascauda equina syndrome.
Symptoms include weakness in the legs and difficulties walking and controlling the bladder or bowels.
Back pain is variably present with this condition.
Cauda equina syndrome is a medical emergency.
Enlarged Prostate
An enlarged prostate is a common condition in older people.
It’s usually harmless.
Symptoms typically involve difficulty urinating, but not usually back pain.
However, unlike enlarged prostate, prostatitis strikes people of all ages.
The key in of prostatitis may determine the kind of pain you have.
For example, pelvic and lower back pain and achy muscles occur with an acute prostate infection.
With chronic prostatitis, your nerves are affected.This can lead to persistent pain in the pelvic area.
An aneurysm is like a bubble that forms in an artery wall.
This condition causes an expansion and weakening of the walls of the aorta as it extends into the belly.
Most abdominalaortic aneurysms(AAA) generally don’t cause health problems.
Almost 90% identified by screening are less than 3.5 centimeters (cm) in size.
However, larger ones can burst and bleed into the belly, requiring emergency surgery.
Surgery is often required to save a patient’s life.
Gallstones
Like kidney stones,gallstonesare hard masses that form in the gallbladder and bile ducts.
Your gallbladder is a small organ on the right side of your belly under your liver.
It stores a chemical called bile needed to digest fats.
The bile ducts are tubes that carry the bile from the liver and gallbladder to the small intestine.
Gallstone Formation
When certain substances in the bile combine, deposits can form.
These bits may stay in the gallbladder or bile duct.
Over time they become gallstones and cause the organ to become inflamed.
Experts aren’t sure what causes gallstones.
They know that most stones contain cholesterol.
That’s why they believe a diet high in animal fat increases the risk of gallstones.
Gallstones often don’t causesymptoms.
It usually starts suddenly and lasts for at least a half-hour.
The other main symptom is back pain under your right shoulder blade.
Some people with gallstones also get indigestion after eating a high-fat or high-protein meal.
In 2006, Scandinavian researchers surveyed 220 patients with gallstones.
They found that 63% had referred back pain.
For 5% of participants, back pain was their main symptom.
If you have gallstone pain, your healthcare provider will likely suggestsurgery to remove your gallbladder.
Referred back pain can be due to diseases in organs in your belly or chest.
Some of the conditions that cause this kind of back pain can be serious.
Regular prostate check-ups are essential to detect cancer early.
If you think you may have an aortic aneurysm in your belly, get help immediately.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Definition & facts for kidney stones.
Johns Hopkins Medicine.Kidney stones.
Harvard Medical School.5 steps for preventing kidney stones.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Screening for prostate cancer.
American Cancer Society.Treatments for prostate cancer spread to the bones.
Murphy AB, Macejko A, Taylor A, Nadler RB.Chronic prostatitis: management strategies.Drugs.
2011;41 Suppl 1:S1-S58.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.Lower-sodium foods: shopping list.
