Back pains are indicative of serious illness in your body or injuries to major organs in your body. A lot of people know this and they therefore rush to report back pains to emergency rooms. There are cases of people who ignored back pains hoping that they would go away on their own and they ended up paralyzed and others totally disabled.
Although some forms of pains are as a results of strenuous activity, unexplained back pains should be treated with a sense of urgency and reported to the nearest emergency room. Back pains are just symptoms and can be a forerunner of imminent disability or serious infection to your spine.
There is a very thin line between harmless pain and pain which is indicative of a serious underlying problem. This is where the dilemma comes in. When should you report your back pain to the nearest emergency room therefore? When should you ignore back pains and let them fade away?
If you experience any of the following symptoms in conjunction with back pains, visit the nearest emergency room immediately;
Searing pain that travels down either or both your legs
This is the most commonly reported back pain symptom and it is indicative of serious complications. An injury to the sciatic nerve in the lower back is normally the root cause of this complication. An injury to this nerve causes pain to travel down through the path of the sciatic nerve and can be felt as it throbs down either of the legs or both. If you ever experience this pain, then do not hesitate to make a visit to the nearest emergency room and let the physician examine it.
A feeling of numbness in the lower body especially in the legs
If you have back pains which are accompanied by numbness in the lower body area especially in the legs, then you need to visit the nearest emergency room. Numbness in the lower body is an indication of an injury to one or multiple lumbar nerves or something even worse. Injuries to such crucial nerves can cause total paralysis if they are not attended to on time. Any numbness in one or both feet should be reported to the nearest emergency room especially if it is accompanied by back pains,
Sudden appetite loss and unexplained weight loss
If you have been experiencing mild back pains for some time now and realize that you have lost some weight and have problems with your appetite, you need to visit the emergency room because you could be in some potential danger. Loss of bowel and urinary control is a sign of a very serious medical condition like cancer or a tumour lodged in your spine. It is therefore important that you get assed as soon as possible to avert further trouble.
A sudden severe pain in the lower back
Most of the harmless back pains resulting from rigorous physical activity are normally manageable and don’t last more than a day after you get good rest. If you ever feel a sudden sharp and very severe pain in the back and you have not been engaging in any physical activity, then you need to ring the nearest emergency room. This might be an indication of a problem with your back muscles or even the spinal cord. We all know how fragile the spinal cord is and what its injury can bring forth. You therefore should not take chances with such pains. It is not advisable to try and ride through the pain because this can cause severe complications. Visit the nearest emergency room as soon as you can.
Loss of bladder control
If your back pains are accompanied by bowel and/or urinary incontinence which is a condition where you are unable to hold urine and lose rectal control you need to visit the emergency room before it gets all too late. These symptoms are normally indicative of cauda equine syndrome. This syndrome is caused by severe compression of the nerve sac in the lower spine of the back. You feel a lot of pressure within you and however much you try to hold back urine and stool, they still pass through. Make a visit to the emergency room as soon as you start receiving these symptoms and let the doctors give the way forward.
Here at Frontline Emergency Room Mission Bend Houston, we treat back pains with the seriousness they deserve and will always provide high quality care whenever called upon. If you are in Dallas or Richmond therefore and are wondering whether you can receive care for your back pains, do not hesitate to give us a call today and we will provide the required treatment.
We offer high quality no wait emergency care services provided by board certified physicians and registered nurses. Day or night, we are always available to serve you and offer the care you need at a competitive rate.
