What Is Your Opinion On Acupuncture If Surgery Is Not An Option
Back pain often has low success rates when it comes to surgery compared to buttocks pain that has high success rates. So if surgery is not an option for you, I think the answer is yes try everything else.
Everything else can range from physical therapy to acupuncture to chiropractic care to stem cell therapy. I have had patients respond to every version of therapy, and I have had patients respond to none of these options.
I would absolutely recommend trying acupuncture to see how much relief that provides you.
Can Hip Pain Cause Back Pain
The short answer is yes, hip pain can cause back pain and vice versa. Hip injuries sometimes come from the hip, but many times come from the back. This is the same with back pain. Sometimes the pain comes from the back, but it often comes from the hip. Your hip joints sit near your spine, and because of that, the pain often manifests itself in your lower back.
To narrow down the source of your pain, analyze it. If the pain starts in the hip and groin area and radiates down to your knee, its most likely a hip issue. However, if the pain starts in the buttocks region and radiates down your leg, its most likely a spine issue. Come visit one of our Dallas orthopedic specialists to be extra sure.
Lower Back Pain Causes
Most low back pain is due to a disruption in the way the spine, muscles, discs, and nerves fit together and move. Some mechanical causes of low back pain include:
Congenital
- Skeletal Irregularities: scoliosis , lordosis , kyphosis , etc.
- Spina Bifida: the incomplete development of the spinal cord or its protective covering.
Injuries
- Traumatic Injury: sports accidents, car accidents, or falls.
Degenerative Problems
- Intervertebral Disc Degeneration: spinal discs wear down from aging, causing them to lose their natural cushion.
- Spondylosis: general spinal degeneration from aging. This issue affects the joints, discs, and bones of the spine.
- Arthritis and Other Inflammatory Diseases:osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, spondylitis, etc.
Nerve and Spinal Cord Problems:
Non-spine Pain Sources:
- Kidney Stones: sharp lower back pain, usually on one side.
- Endometriosis: the buildup of uterine tissue outside the uterus.
- Fibromyalgia: a chronic pain syndrome causing muscle pain and fatigue.
- Tumors: tumors can press on or destroy the spinal cord and nerves.
- Pregnancy: lower back pain usually begins in later stages of pregnancy, and is resolved after birth.
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To Relieve Hip Pain Try Thesefirst:
- See your primary care doctor. He or she will likely prescribe nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to see if hip pain improves.
- Lose weight. Shedding extra pounds is critical in relieving hip pain. Losing weight often reduces symptoms to the point where surgery is not necessary, says Dr. Murray. It also increases your chances of a successful outcome if surgery is one day warranted.
How Is A Diagnosis Made
A medical exam will help determine whether the SI joint is the source of your pain. Evaluation includes a medical history and physical exam. Your physician will consider all the information you provided, including any history of injury, location of your pain, and problems standing or sleeping.
There are specific tests to determine whether the SI joint is the source of pain. You may be asked to stand or move in different positions and point to where you feel pain. Your doctor may manipulate your joints or feel for tenderness over your SI joint.
Imaging studies, such as X-ray, CT, or MRI, may be ordered to help in the diagnosis and to check for other spine and hip related problems.
A diagnostic SI joint injection may be performed to confirm the cause of pain. The SI joint is injected with a local anesthetic and corticosteroid medication. The injection is given using X-ray fluoroscopy to ensure accurate needle placement in the SI joint. Your pain level is evaluated before and 20-30 minutes after injection, and monitored over the next week. Sacroiliac joint involvement is confirmed if your pain level decreases by more than 75%. If your pain level does not change after the injection, it is unlikely that the SI joint is the cause of your low back pain.
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For Back Pain Problems Try Thesefirst:
- See your care primary doctor, and stay active. He or she will likely prescribe NSAIDs for two weeks. Meanwhile, stay active. Activity can and should be continued. Prolonged bed rest is bad advice, says Dr. DeMicco.
- Schedule physical therapy if needed after two weeks. If youre still in pain after two weeks, a physical therapist can show you exercises that can strengthen the muscles supporting your spine as well as back-friendly maneuvers.
- Lose weight, and quit tobacco. Maintaining your ideal weight will take the pressure off your spine. Its important to avoid tobacco products too. Nicotine impedes microcirculation, so your spine will degenerate at a faster rate, says Dr. DeMicco.
If the source of your pain is difficult to pinpoint, seek help from a hip or spine specialist. The specialist may order an injection of lidocaine, or they may perform diagnostic/therapeutic hip injection under fluoroscopy or ultrasound.
If the problem is the hip,this will numb the hip joint and relieve symptoms immediately. If the paindoes not improve, we know were barking up the wrong tree, says Dr. Murray.The same technique can rule out or confirm back pain.
Mononeuropathies Of The Leg
Mononeuropathies can affect nerves in the legs, arms, or other parts of the body. Mononeuropathy means a single nerve or nerve group has been damaged, for example, by a lesion that has developed along a nerve or group of nerves. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a good example of a mononeuropathy, in this case, affecting the wrist area. With mononeuropathy symptoms may be sudden or may develop slowly . Some of the more common mononeuropathies are
- femoral neuropathy
- sciatic nerve dysfunction
- peroneal neuropathy .
- tibial neuropathy .
Symptoms of the neuropathies above would include burning sensation in leg areas where these nerves are housed as well as lack of coordination of these leg muscles. Other symptoms include muscle wasting, pain, and twitching, cramps, and spasms in these nerves. Treatment focuses on isolating the underlying cause of the nerve disorder and addressing it using medications such as injected glucocorticoids and/or physical
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Lower Back Pain Caused By Infection
Infections of the spine are not common, but they do occur. The doctor will ask about the usual signs and symptoms of infection, especially when back pain is accompanied by fever and/or chills. Dialysis patients, IV drug users, and patients who have recently had surgery, trauma, or skin infections are at risk for infections of the spine. Infections of the spine can be caused by a number of agents, most commonly bacteria. Doctors will first test for the presence of bacteria, then give antibiotics.
Possible Causes Of Chronic Back And Hip Pain
1. Arthritis
Arthritis is a condition that affects the spine as well as the hip bones. This involves the inflammation of the joints. It can be very painful, weakening, and debilitating. People of any age and gender can suffer from arthritis, but older people have a higher risk of experiencing this condition.
2. Back Muscle Pain
Back muscle pain is a painful condition or injury that normally resolves on its own. This is a common form of pain in the lumbar region that radiates to the hip muscles. It is rarely serious, however, can be very painful and can functionally affect your movements.
3. Hip Bursitis
Hip bursitis is a common medical condition that occurs due to old age and extreme use of the joints. This occurs when the bursa or fluid-filled sacs in the joints which are responsible for the smooth motion are inflamed. The smooth joint motion is then prevented, thus causing pain in some people and asymptomatic in most people.
4. Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a condition that makes the bones weak and brittle due to low bone density. The development of porous bones is mostly observed in older people. The risk becomes even higher with the development of fracture in the hips and any other areas of the body. This may lead to more pain and movement problems that may last a lifetime.
5. Pinched Nerve
6. Piriformis Syndrome
7. Sacroiliac Joint Pain
8. Sciatica
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Overuse Injuries And Trauma
Frequent use and repetitive movement patterns can lead to overuse injuries to muscles, ligaments, and joints. This could include:
- Exercises and physical activities, like tennis or golf, that require repetitive twisting and bending in the same directions.
- Frequently lifting heavy objects for work, or any movements that are regularly repeated.
Trauma can also lead to lower back and groin pain. Trauma could result from:
- Sports accidents
These can result in both acute and chronic injuries to the body, like strained muscles or broken bones. Depending on the type of trauma, the healing time and treatment needed can vary.
Both overuse and trauma injuries to the lower back or groin area can lead to weakness in the legs, tingling, numbness, pain, stiffness, or popping sensations.
Why Does My Lower Back And Hip Hurt
Your lower back and hip are codependent structures. A problem in one of these structures can cause dysfunction and pain in the other. 1
- If you have chronic lower back pain, the movements in your hip may be reduced and the muscles surrounding your hip joint can become tense and painful.2,3
- If theres an abnormality in your hip function, the mechanics of your lower back may be altered, causing pain in both regions.4
The lower back and hip share many groups of muscles. When a specific muscle is affected, it may lead to compensatory movements, fatigue, and pain in the other surrounding muscles.1
Read on to learn how lower back and hip pain can occur together. While some conditions may affect one side of your lower back and hip, others can cause pain on both sides at the same time.
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Common Causes Of Chronic Lower Back Pain
Chronic lower back pain is less likely to be caused by injury to your muscles and ligaments and more likely to be due to issues with the lumbar disks, nerves, joints or vertebrae, says Dr. Palmer. There are several potential causes of chronic pain in the lower back.
In general, osteoarthritis and degenerative disk disease are the underlying cause of many types of chronic lower back pain. However, lower back pain can also be caused by accident-related trauma and acute stress.
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What Are Some Reasons That Back Pain Is Significantly Worse At Night Or In The Morning
Back pain is often perceived as one general term, but in my world back pain can mean a thousand different things. So your specific pathology will play a significant role in what time of day your pain is at its peak. I think the hormonal shifts that wakes us up in the morning and then makes us more tired by the end of the day contributes to inflammation.
If the pain is waking you up in the middle of the night, that is more of a red flag and should be assessed earlier.
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Tests For Groin And Hip Pain
At the appointment with your doctor, they will probably:
- feel your abdomen, leg, or hip to determine the exact location of your pain
- move your leg or hip in various positions
- test your strength by having you resist as they try to move your leg
Your doctor may order imaging tests to get further information. These might include:
- X-ray. Fractures or worn-down cartilage can be seen with X-rays.
- MRI.Magnetic resonance imaging shows soft tissue injuries, such as ligament, muscle, or tendon tears.
- Ultrasound.Ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to create images of your bodys organs, such as your ovaries. There is also a therapeutic form of ultrasound that is used to increase blood flow, relax muscles, and speed healing.
The Importance Of An Accurate Diagnosis
The physician will need to take a careful medical history and do a physical exam to look for certain red flags that indicate the need for an X-ray or other imaging test. In most cases, however, imaging such as X-ray, MRI , or CT scan is unnecessary.
There may also be certain clues in a patients medical history. Low back, nonradiating pain is commonly due to muscle strain and spasm. Pain that radiates into the buttock and down the leg may be due to , a condition in which a bulging disc presses on the sciatic nerve, which extends down the spinal column to its exit point in the pelvis and carries nerve fibers to the leg. This nerve compression causes pain in the lower back radiating through the buttocks and down one leg, which can go to below the knee, often combined with localized areas of numbness. In the most extreme cases, the patient experiences weakness in addition to numbness and pain, which suggests the need for quick evaluation.
A persistent shooting or tingling pain may suggest lumbar disc disease. A pain that comes and goes, reaching a peak and then quieting for a minute or two, only to reach a peak again, may suggest an altogether different cause of back pain, such as a kidney stone.
When tumor or infection are suspected, the doctor may order blood tests, including a CBC and sedimentation rate .
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Signs That Your Spine Is The Source Of Your Pain
Whereas groin pain is a telltale sign that the pain is linked to the hip, pain above the waistline that travels down the body typically indicates a low back issue. A low back problem may also be responsible for other types of lower body pain, including thigh, buttock, and below-the-knee pain.
Among the most common degenerative conditions that affect the lumbar spine are herniated discs, spinal stenosis, and spondylolisthesis. These conditions cause pain by irritating your low back nerves, resulting in pain that shoots down your legs , weakness, numbness, and reducing your range of motion.
The pattern of pain coming from the lumbar spine can be variable, depending of the specific issue causing the pain. Commonly, pain from arthritis of the spine occurs during transitions such as getting out of bed in the morning or raising up from sitting. It can often then improve after getting moving. In contrast, pain from spinal stenosis or nerve pressure is often worse with prolonged standing or walking and relieved with sitting.
How Are Lower Back And Hip Pain Treated
You can effectively treat the condition when you know what causes low back and hip pain. There are different levels of lower back pain. There is acute back pain which is more common and only lasts for a few days or weeks. Then theres the subacute low back pain which can last for four weeks to 12 weeks. The most severe is chronic back pain, which lasts for more than 12 weeks.
However, most people don’t visit a hospital when experiencing low back pain because it typically resolves itself after a few days.
The main goal of treatment for subacute pain is to prevent it from reaching the chronic level. Fortunately, all three lower back pain levels require the same type of treatment, and a combination of different approaches works even better.
Here are some treatment approaches available for lower back and hip pain:
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Referred Pain To And From The Lumbar Spine
Pain in the area of the lumbar spine may be due to important problems that are actually unrelated to the back. Referred pain occurs when a problem in one place in the body causes pain in another place. The pain travels down a nerve.. Sources of referred pain to the low back may include abdominal aneurysm , tubal pregnancy, kidney stones, pancreatitis, and colon cancer. Clues to these maladies include pain that waxes and wanes over a short period, with frequent peaks of intense pain, weight loss, abnormalities found during abdominal exam, and trace amounts of blood in the urine. On the other hand, pain can be referred from the low back and be felt in another location, as is often the case with . For example, it is not rare for a patient with a slipped disc in the lower back to have pain in the back of the thigh, or in the calf or even the foot, and not have any low back pain. This situation requires a doctor to sort out the type of pain and to do the examination required to show that the pain is actually coming from the spine .
Radiating Lower Back Pain Quiz
Take a quiz to find out what’s causing your pain.
Severe pain always gets your attention and keeps it there, making you wonder if there is something worrisome that is wrong.
Back pain and outer hip pain area can be especially troublesome, causing you pain when you move, walk, and even when you sleep. Sciatic nerve pain is especially troubling, causing pain in the butt literally and shooting pain in the leg that begins in the mid buttock and runs down the back of the leg down to the ankle.
We’ve put together a handy guide that will help you pinpoint the exact cause of your pain and know how seriousor mild, your condition is and to know if you need to get help immediately or see a doctor at your convenience.
If you are concerned that the cause of your radiating back/hip/leg pain might be something serious, check the more serious possible causes of your pain below to see what doctors say about when to worry about radiating hip and back pain.
You can also consult our handy back pain quiz, which will help you use your symptoms to diagnose possible causes for your pain.
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