Back pain

Abstract

Back pain is defi ned as pain felt in the back that may have various reasons and clinical presentations. The reasons for back pain can be diverse (see also Sect. 8.4): musculoskeletal diseases (e.g., disc herniation, scoliosis), trauma, spinal infections (e.g., discitis, osteomyelitis) or non-spinal infections (e.g., paraspinous muscle abscess, pyelonephritis, pneumonia, pelvic infl ammatory disease), tumors or metastasis, urological disorders (e.g., urolithiasis or ureteropelvic junction obstruction), or chronic pain syndromes [ 1 ]. Lifting or twisting can release muscle-related pain, while bone-related pain is often aggravated by extension.