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Pain in the neck and back

 
, medical expert
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
 
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Pain in the back and neck often occurs, especially in the elderly. Pain in the lower back is 50% of people over the age of 60 years. Symptoms of pain in the back and in the neck can include just local pain, acute or dull, chronic or remitting, depending on some reason and accompanied by a muscle spasm. The reflex stress of the paraspinal muscles in response to a painful spinal injury can be more painful than the underlying cause. With the defeat of the spinal cord or spinal cord, various neurological symptoms may occur, including sensory disorders and muscle weakness. Back pain can radiate distally in the case of lesions of the spinal roots.

The main diseases that cause pain in the neck and back
 

Localization of pain

Diseases

Only cervical pain

Atlanto-axial subluxation

Reflex pain in vertebral and carotid artery dissection, angina, myocardial infarction,
meningitis, esophageal diseases, thyroiditis

Herpes zoster

Temporomandibular joint disease

Spasmodic torticollis

Subarachnoid haemorrhage

Only lower back pain

Stenosis of the spinal canal at the lumbar level

Sclerosing osteitis of the ilium

Osteoporotic fractures (also can
occur in the thoracic and, rarely, in the cervical)

Reflex pain in diseases of the femur
, gluteal region, pelvic organs.

Reflected visceral pain in dissection or aortic aneurysm, renal colic, pancreatitis, retroperitoneal tumor, pleurisy, pyelonephritis

Sili-sacral osteoarthritis

Sacralomyelitis

Spondylolisthesis

Pain in the neck and lower back

Ankylosing spondylitis (usually in the lower back and thoracic region)

Arthritis (osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis rarely affects the lower back)

Congenital anomalies (eg, spina bifida, SI lumbarization)

Fibromyalgia

Diseases of the intervertebral disc

Infectious diseases (eg, osteomyelitis, discitis, spinal epidural abscess, infectious arthritis)

Injuries (for example, dislocations, subluxations, fractures)

Stretching (overstrain) of muscles and ligaments

Paget's disease

Rheumatic polymyalgia

Tumor (primary or metastatic)

Compression of the spinal cord

All causes of back pain can be conditionally divided into three categories (percentage indicated average frequency of occurrence):

  1. Mechanical (97%)
  2. Non-mechanical (~ 1%)
  3. Visceral (~ 2%)

Mechanical back pain:

  • Lumbar overload and tension - myogenic pain (70%)
  • Degeneration of discs and facet joints (10%)
  • Herniated disc (4%)
  • Osteoporetic compression fractures (4%)
  • Spinal stenosis (3%)
  • Spondylolisthesis (2%)
  • Traumatic fractures (<1%)
  • Congenital diseases (<1%)
    • Severe kyphosis or scoliosis
    • Transitional vertebrae
  • Spondylolysis
  • Internal disk rupture
  • The alleged instability

Non-mechanical pain in the back:

  • Neoplasia (0.7%)
    • Multiple myeloma
    • Metastases of carcinoma
    • Lymphoma and leukemia
    • Tumors of the spinal cord
    • Retroperitoneal tumors
    • Primary vertebral tumors
  • Infections (0.01%)
    • Osteomyelitis
    • Septic discitis
    • Paraspinal abscess
    • Epidural abscess
    • Shingles
  • Inflammatory arthritis (0.3%)
    • Ankylosing spondylitis
    • Reiter's syndrome
    • Visceral inflammatory pathology
  • Schoeirmmann's disease (osteochondrosis)
  • Paget's disease

Visceral pain in the back:

  • Diseases of the pelvic organs:
    • Prostatitis
    • Endometriosis
    • Chronic inflammatory diseases of the pelvic organs
  • Kidney Diseases
    • Nephrolithiasis
    • Pyelonephritis
    • Perinephric abscess
  • Aortic aneurysm
  • Diseases of the digestive tract
    • Pancreatitis
    • Cholecystitis
    • Penetration of ulcers

trusted-source[1], [2], [3]

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