Life threatening?
In rare instances lower back pain can be very serious and even life threatening. Every once in a while lower back pain is a warning that you could be suffering from a serious ailment like cancer or disease of the autoimmune system. Once you have passed your fifty-fifth birthday there is reason to worry that your lower back pain is a serious condition.
It is not easy to tell whether this condition is serious. Lower back pain may be serious but rarely does it prove to be very threatening. It can however make you suffer for weeks on end and if the condition becomes chronic then the pain may last an entire year. The good news is that even a chronic lower back pain condition will not kill you. It can however prove to be an ominous condition.
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Trauma to the spinal cord
This is because the condition is caused by trauma to the spinal cord. In other instances, it can be caused by a progressive ailment. The cause of lower back pain can be a cancerous condition, which makes the pain grow gradually. A pinching of the lowest part of the spinal cord can also cause the condition. When this is the cause of your lower back pain you will find it hard to urinate and you will also suffer from a numb groin as well as weakening in the legs. Such a condition is normally caused because a disc has ruptured or it may occur because of trauma or infection.
Bad cases may not cause much pain
Even if your lower back pain is very painful, the good news is does not necessarily mean your condition is very menacing. In fact, it is possible for a very bad case of lower back pain to be least painful as well as least scary. If you suffer from cauda equinae syndrome there is a possibility that you could seriously and permanently damage your spine. Even so, such a condition is not very painful and in some cases it may not even cause any pain. On the other hand, a relatively harmless lower back pain condition can cause very severe pain.
When to take things seriously?
Even if a couple of lower back pain conditions are serious, they do not suggest that you have something horribly wrong with your body. The first condition that should make you worry is when you experience a lot of numbness around your groin and buttocks. Also, if your bladder fails or you cannot control your bowel movements, then the condition is very serious, as they suggest an injury to your spinal cord.
The second instance when you need to take your lower back pain seriously is when you have suffered an injury in an accident, and the spine has been injured or it has become compressed. In such a case, you need to get yourself evaluated immediately. An X-ray needs to be taken to ensure that there is no breakage in your spine.
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