Shoulder Pain And Back Pain Treatment

Back pain due to cancer is very rare - that's the good news - but it does happen and it's very important for both doctors and their patients to be aware of the warning signs.

A recent article published in the European Spine Journal highlights the most important issues.

The researchers looked at all published studies covering issues related to back pain and cancer.

Six studies evaluating 22 different clinical features and tests were identified.

Malignant cancer as a cause of back pain is rare - the scientists in this study foun rates between one in a thousand cases and, at most in some groups of patients, three in a hundred.

Features that acted as major warning signs or red flags for cancer were

• A previous history of cancer
• A high ESR blood test
• A reduced hematocrit blood test
• And overall clinician judgement

A combination of age more than 50 years, a previous history of cancer, unexplained weight loss, and failure to improve after 1 month were highly worrying features.

The authors emphasised that malignancy is rare as a cause of low back pain. The most useful features and tests are a previous history of cancer, elevated ESR, reduced hematocrit, and clinician judgement.

I'll say again here what I've said many, many times before .... if you are concerned about a persistent back ache then go see your doctor. Now please !

Labels: back pain, cancer, joint pain, red flag signs