How to address acute pain in the lower back while sitting?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am experiencing acute pain on the left side of the lower back since last night. Suddenly, I was unable to bend forward at all and started feeling extreme pain while sitting. The pain is radiating from the lower back to the left hip. Even after 12 hours, the pain has not reduced a bit.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I have gone through your complaints and understand your concern. I generally have seen many cases like this at my clinic. I advise them rest, analgesics, anti-inflammatory tablets, and ice pack till the symptoms reduce to some extent. Then I get an x-ray and if necessary an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) done to find out the exact reason. In your case, there are three possibilities:

1. Soft tissue inflammation, there may be no bony involvement, only the soft tissues around the region might be inflamed that may be causing the pain.

2. Neuropathy, there may be a partial or complete inflammation of the nerves in that region that may be the root cause of such a kind of pain.

3. Disc prolapse- there may be a compressed nerve in the spine somewhere that might be causing radiating pain in those regions. The possibility of a disc prolapse should be kept in mind.

I suggest you get an x-ray as well as an MRI done to find out the exact cause. Physiotherapy, analgesics, and anti-inflammatory drugs should help until then. Do get back to me after your reports are ready. But I assure one thing, even if it is either of the above three possibilities, all have a good prognosis and you should eventually get back to normal in the coming few days. Nothing to worry about.