You Have Other Common Coronavirus Symptoms
Back pain can be a muscle ache symptom of the coronavirus, says Leann Poston, MD, a licensed physician and health advisor for Invigor Medical. However, it’s highly unlikely for this symptom on its own to be a sign that you have COVID. Instead, Poston says those infected should also expect to experience losing their sense of taste and smell, shortness of breath, headache, fever, and/or a dry cough. And for more on coronavirus complications, If Your Symptoms Appear in This Order, You May Have Severe COVID.
This Is How To Tell If Your Back Pain Is Covid Doctors Say
There are numerous symptoms that could point to a COVID case, but some are more talked about than others. Common symptoms include cough, fever, and shortness of breath, but patients have also complained about more unusual symptoms, including rashes and eye pain. Recently, Ellen DeGeneres said she experienced a COVID symptom she doesn’t think is talked about enough: back pain. Of course, back pain is a very common phenomenon, but there are some telltale signs that can help you determine if what you’re experiencing is a coronavirus symptom. Keep reading to find out how to tell if your back pain is COVID, and for more symptoms you may be unsure about, This Is How to Tell If Your Upset Stomach Is COVID, Doctors Say.
Sharp Pain In Ear: Causes Treatments And When To See A Doctor
Jenny Hills, Nutritionist and Medical Writer Health
Experiencing a sharp pain in the ear can be very worrying and cause you a lot of discomfort. If you suffer from severe earache, you may find it difficult to concentrate, get on with your daily activities, and even keep your balance.
The ear is a complex sensory organ that contains sensitive tissue and small bones that help us hear. Because the ear is connected to the nose and is close to the jaw and facial muscles, many different conditions can cause a painful ear. The sharp shooting ear pain could originate in the outer or middle ear if you have a bacterial or viral infection there. Or, the painful stabbing sensation could originate in the inner ear if there is inflammation.
Most of the time sharp pain in one or both ears is due to an infection in your respiratory system that also affects your ears. So, if you have had a cold or the flu, you will often have mild to severe ear pain. However, the pain in your ear can come from problems with your jaw, toothache, blocked sinuses, or even arthritis. You could also have a painful ear when on an airplane or after swimming.
This article looks at the symptoms and causes of having a sharp pain in your ear. You will also find helpful natural home remedies to soothe a painful earache and treat the underlying cause of pain in your ear.
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You Have A Painful Dry Cough
The one common symptom you should really look out for to determine if you have the coronavirus is a dry cough. That’s because, according to Poston, the back pain one experiences during COVID is usually a result of their cough.
“Coughing can cause rib and diaphragm pain, which frequently radiates to the back,” she explains. And for more on your cough, This Is How to Tell If Your Cough Is COVID, Doctors Say.
Chronic Idiopathic Peripheral Neuropathy
Peripheral neuropathy refers to the feeling of numbness, tingling, and pins-and-needles sensation in the feet. Idiopathic means the cause is not known, and chronic means the condition is ongoing without getting better or worse.
The condition is most often found in people over age 60. Idiopathic neuropathy has no known cause.
Symptoms include uncomfortable numbness and tingling in the feet difficulty standing or walking due to pain and lack of normal sensitivity and weakness and cramping in the muscles of the feet and ankles.
Peripheral neuropathy can greatly interfere with quality of life, so a medical provider should be seen in order to treat the symptoms and reduce the discomfort.
Diagnosis is made through physical examination blood tests to rule out other conditions and neurologic and muscle studies such as electromyography.
Treatment involves over-the-counter pain relievers prescription pain relievers to manage more severe pain physical therapy and safety measures to compensate for loss of sensation in the feet and therapeutic footwear to help with balance and walking.
Rarity: Rare
Top Symptoms: distal numbness, muscle aches, joint stiffness, numbness on both sides of body, loss of muscle mass
Urgency: Primary care doctor
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What Causes Lumbar Strain
Injury can damage the tendons and muscles in the lower back. Pushing and pulling sports, such as weight lifting or football, can lead to a lumbar strain. In addition, sports that require sudden twisting of the lower back, such as in tennis, basketball, baseball, and golf, can lead to this injury.
Certain risk factors can increase the risk for this injury. The risk factors are:
- Severe lower back curvature
- Weak back or belly muscles
- Tight hamstrings
Muscle Tension And Fatigue
You notice twinges of pain along the back of your neck and the sides of your head for a number of different reasons, including muscle tension and fatigue. Do you sit in one position for extended hours? If yes, this may well be the reason why you feel pain in the back of your head. Save yourself from stress, and you won’t find yourself asking, “Why am I experiencing sharp pain in the back of my head?”
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How To Treat Low Back Pain
- Over-the-counter pain medications such as acetaminophen, aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen to relieve pain and inflammation.
- Prescription drugs like muscle relaxants or pain relievers can provide short-term relief.
- Over-the-counter topical creams, gels, patches, or sprays with lidocaine, menthol, or capsaicin stimulate nerves in the skin, dulling pain. They can be particularly helpful for localized pain due to sore muscles.
- Hot or cold pads may help ease pain, reduce inflammation, and improve mobility.
- Core exercises that strengthen your abs and muscles lining the spine may help take the stress off the back, Rosner says. Check with your doctor before beginning any exercise program to make sure the exercises are right for your condition.
- Mindfulness-based stress reduction , an eight-week program of meditation and gentle yoga, can improve chronic lower back pain.
What Are The Symptoms Of Lower Back Pain
Symptoms of lower back pain can come on suddenly or appear gradually. Sometimes, pain occurs after a specific event, such as bending to pick something up. Other times, you may not know what caused the pain.
Pain may be sharp or dull and achy, and it may radiate to your bottom or down the back of your legs . If you strain your back during an activity, you may hear a pop when it happened. Pain is often worse in certain positions and gets better when you lie down.
Other symptoms of lower back pain include:
- Stiffness: It may be tough to move or straighten your back. Getting up from a seated position may take a while, and you might feel like you need to walk or stretch to loosen up. You may notice decreased range of motion.
- Posture problems: Many people with back pain find it hard to stand up straight. You may stand crooked or bent, with your torso off to the side rather than aligned with your spine. Your lower back may look flat instead of curved.
- Muscle spasms: After a strain, muscles in the lower back can spasm or contract uncontrollably. Muscle spasms can cause extreme pain and make it difficult or impossible to stand, walk or move.
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Acute Back Pain: Short
If your back pain is acute, it probably means your pain came along suddenly. Things like stress, strenuous exercise, an awkward movement or lifting something wrong can all contribute to acute back pain.
Most back pain is diagnosed as acute. With acute back pain, the pain lasts no longer than six weeks. And in most cases, the underlying cause of the pain doesnt pose a serious or long-term problem.
What Is Back Pain
Back pain can be a symptom of many different illnesses and conditions. The main cause of the pain can be a problem with the back itself or by a problem in another part of the body. In many cases, doctors can’t find a cause for the pain. When a cause is found, common explanations include:
- Stress or injury involving the back muscles, including back sprain or strain chronic overload of back muscles caused by obesity and short term overload of back muscles caused by any unusual stress, such as lifting or pregnancy
- Disease or injury involving the back bones , including fracture from an accident or as a result of the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis
- Degenerative arthritis, a “wear and tear” process that may be related to age, injury and genetic predisposition.
- Disease or injury involving the spinal nerves, including nerve injury caused by a protruding disk or spinal stenosis
- Kidney stones or a kidney infection
- Inflammatory arthritis, including ankylosing spondylitis and related conditions
- A spinal tumor or a cancer that has spread to the spine from elsewhere in the body
- Infection, which may be in the disk space, bone , abdomen, pelvis or bloodstream
-
Rarer causes include:
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What Causes Sharp Pain In The Heart
Chest pain isnt always as bad as you might think. A 2016 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that less than 6% of people who go to the emergency room for chest pain actually have a life-threatening problem.
That doesnt mean you should ignore the pain, of course. It could signal something serious.
So whats going on inside your ribcage? Dr. Legha points to some of the common causes of sharp chest pain.
It’s A Deep Pain That Hurts When You Take A Breath Or Cough
Different types of back pains often feel different, Poston says. If you experience back pain from coughing due to COVID, it will most likely be sharp and hurt when you take a deep breath or cough. If it’s back pain from pneumoniaa potential complication of coronavirusit’ll feel different from the regular back pain many experience by sitting too long or laying the wrong way. Poston says pneumonia back pain is more often described as an achy pain that “bores deep into the back.” And for more up-to-date information, .
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What Are The Symptoms
Classic sciatic pain starts in the low back and buttocks. It affects one leg traveling down the back of the thigh, past the knee, and sometimes into the calf and foot. The pain feels worse in the leg than in the back. It may range from a mild ache to severe burning or a shooting pain. Numbness or tingling can occur in your leg and foot. This usually is not a concern unless you have weakness in your leg muscles or foot drop.
Sitting usually causes the most pain because of the weight this position puts onto the discs. Activities, such as bending or twisting, worsen the pain, whereas lying down tends to bring relief. Running or walking may actually feel better than sitting or standing for too long.
Seek medical help immediately if you have extreme leg weakness, numbness in the genital area, or loss of bladder or bowel function. These are signs of a condition called cauda equina syndrome.
Lower Back Pain: What Could It Be
Do you have lower back pain? You are not alone. Anyone can experience lower back pain at any time, even if you dont have a prior injury or any of the risk factors. It is not always serious and can often get better on its own. But in some cases pain is your bodys way of telling you that something isnt right.
Learn more about lower back pain and what causes it from rehabilitation physician Akhil Chhatre, M.D., who specializes in back pain in the Johns Hopkins Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
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Treatment For Back Pain
Your specialist will most likely employ a multidimensional approach to treatment of your back pain, including rest, icing the area, and taking anti-inflammatory drugs. However, severe pain, high fever, or loss of bowel control are often indicators of a more serious condition affecting the spinal cord.
Chronic Back Pain: Long
Chronic back pain, on the other hand, can be serious. Chronic pain is serious because the symptoms are strong enough to impact your health, mobility and quality of life for an extended period of time.
While chronic back pain can come on suddenly, it usually builds gradually and lasts more than six weeks. Chronic back pain can also be recurrent, meaning itll go away at times but regularly come back.
What causes chronic back pain? Chronic pain can be triggered by a new injury, but underlying conditions are usually the real cause. Muscle deconditioning is one of the most common contributors.
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When To See A Doctor
Sometimes, a person will know the cause of a sharp lower back pain. It may happen after they bend to pick something up or after an intense workout at the gym. In these cases, rest and home care may be enough to help the body heal.
There are some occasions when a person should see a doctor.
See a doctor if the pain does not respond well to home treatments or if a pain that has no known cause lasts more than a couple days.
Troubling symptoms, such as tingling or weakness in the legs, are signs to visit the doctor, as well.
Take note of any symptoms as they appear to share with the doctor. During the visit, the doctor will likely ask the person to describe their symptoms and how long they have persisted.
They may ask the person to do a series of movements to try and find the exact point of pain in the back and determine the underlying cause.
They may also order imaging tests to help with the diagnosis in some cases, such as X-rays or MRI.
I Have A Sharp Pain In My Lower Back What Could It Be
Approximately 80 percent of adults experience lower back pain at least once during their lifetime, according to the National Institutes of Health , a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services . From muscle strains to debilitating kidney conditions, there is a multitude of reasons why sharp lumbar pain can develop.
Properly diagnosing and treating the cause of your lower back pain may involve a series of tests but the first course of treatment should be a visit to a reputable orthopedic doctor.
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What Can Cause Lower Back Pain
Most acute low back pain is mechanical in nature, meaning that there is a disruption in the way the components of the back fit together and move. Some examples of mechanical causes of low back pain include:
Congenital
- Skeletal irregularities such as scoliosis , lordosis , kyphosis , and other congenital anomalies of the spine.
- Spina bifida which involves the incomplete development of the spinal cord and/or its protective covering and can cause problems involving malformation of vertebrae and abnormal sensations and even paralysis.
Injuries
- Sprains , strains , and spasms
- Traumatic Injury such as from playing sports, car accidents, or a fall that can injure tendons, ligaments, or muscle causing the pain, as well as compress the spine and cause discs to rupture or herniate.
Degenerative problems
- Intervertebral disc degeneration which occurs when the usually rubbery discs wear down as a normal process of aging and lose their cushioning ability.
- Spondylosis the general degeneration of the spine associated with normal wear and tear that occurs in the joints, discs, and bones of the spine as people get older.
- Arthritis or other inflammatory disease in the spine, including osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis as well as spondylitis, an inflammation of the vertebrae.
Nerve and spinal cord problems
Non-spine sources
What Research Is Being Done
The mission of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke is to seek fundamental knowledge of the brain and nervous system and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease. NINDS is a component of the National Institutes of Health , the leading supporter of biomedical research in the world.
As a primary supporter of research on pain and pain mechanisms, NINDS is a member of the NIH Pain Consortium, which was established to promote collaboration among the many NIH Institutes and Centers with research programs and activities addressing pain. On an even broader scale, NIH participates in the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee, a federal advisory committee that coordinates research across other U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agencies as well as the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.
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How Common Is Lower Back Pain
Around four out of five people have lower back pain at some point in their lives. Its one of the most common reasons people visit healthcare providers.
Some people are more likely to have lower back pain than others. Risk factors for lower back pain include:
- Age: People over 30 have more back pain. Disks wear away with age. As the disks weaken and wear down, pain and stiffness can result.
- Weight: People who are obese or carry extra weight are more likely to have back pain. Excess weight puts pressure on joints and disks.
- Overall health: Weakened abdominal muscles cant support the spine, which can lead to back strains and sprains. People who smoke, drink alcohol excessively or live a sedentary lifestyle have a higher risk of back pain.
- Occupation and lifestyle: Jobs and activities that require heavy lifting or bending can increase the risk of a back injury.
- Structural problems: Severe back pain can result from conditions, such as scoliosis, that change spine alignment.
- Disease: People who have a family history of osteoarthritis, certain types of cancer and other disease have a higher risk of low back pain.
- Mental health: Back pain can result from depression and anxiety.
