Most people find it difficult to determine whether the root cause of back pain is the kidneys or the spine. Therefore, at the family level, renal colic is often confused with symptoms of musculoskeletal diseases. At the same time, the matched organ has its own specificity and characteristic symptoms that appear during the disease.
If you pay attention to the presence of accompanying symptoms, you can understand what the pain is-the lower back or the kidneys. Usually, kidney-derived diseases occur in the context of deteriorating health and accompanied by elevated body temperature. Nausea and frequent urination may occur.
In addition, kidney pain is always located in the location of the matched organ. It can appear on the left or right side, but it rarely shoots the entire back. If the soreness is in the middle of the lower back, it is most likely to appear in the spine or back muscles.
In the practice of urology, waist pain can have different intensity, frequency and frequency, and it can be relieved or not relieved after taking antispasmodic drugs.
Does the kidney hurt?
Yes, it cannot be ruled out that if you have back pain, the kidneys are the source of the problem. In this case, there will be varying degrees of discomfort or pain:
- Organ prolapse (kidney droop);
- Inflammation (pyelonephritis, glomerulonephritis);
- The formation of stones;
- Other diseases of the genitourinary system.
Lower back pain from the kidneys is dull or severe, weak or severe. In many cases, they are indistinguishable from the pain sensation of sciatica or osteochondrosis. Soreness can spread to other areas: groin, thighs, etc.
Sometimes the discomfort will diminish, but on the contrary it will increase-for example, patients with renal ptosis have a surge of pressure or stone displacement.
How to tell if your kidneys are injured
When the source of low back pain is the kidneys, there are often accompanying symptoms. You can even identify them independently at home. However, in order to diagnose the disease more accurately, you should contact a professional expert. Only on the basis of comprehensive diagnostic measures can it be possible to make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe an effective treatment plan.
Another sign: When the kidneys are injured, the pain in the waist does not disappear or worsen with the change of body position-this is a characteristic of spinal diseases. The soreness is constant, which can usually be eliminated only by using spasmodic analgesics.
Features of kidney pain
There are two main types of back pain caused by the kidneys:
- Dullness and pain, accompanied by a heaviness in the waist-this is a symptom of an inflammatory disease (pyelonephritis).
- Sharp, dagger-caused by colic, which occurs due to the influence of stones on visceral nerve endings or obstruction of the urethra (urethral stones).
When the cause is waist pain, the kidney-the feeling of pain is essentially unchanged. They are either slow or acute-depending on the cause of the disease. But spinal muscle soreness is different: it usually transitions from the acute phase to deafness, disappears gradually at rest, and recovers when it starts to move.
Location of low back pain
If you "listen" to yourself carefully, you can feel exactly where the back pain in the kidney area is manifested. Since the paired organs are located at a certain distance from the surface of the body, behind the spine, the painful feeling is concentrated there, deep. Conversely, when a person feels discomfort close to the back surface, it is most likely due to the spine or back muscles.
Whenever there is pain in the kidney area on the back, you can confidently judge the real cause. Effective diagnostic methods such as ultrasound, computed tomography, MRI can help confirm the diagnosis. In addition, blood and urine tests are also performed. All these procedures are carried out in the clinic under the supervision of the attending doctor.
Radiating pain
Back pain in this area usually spreads throughout the body, causing discomfort.
Soreness can affect the following parts of the body:
- Inner thigh area;
- Lower abdomen;
- The groin area.
Significant spasms of the urethra are possible-they are also caused by kidney pathology.
There is no need to doubt whether the kidneys will harm the back-this is a common symptom of the inflammatory process inside the organ. If you feel sore in the waist and below, you can accurately assume kidney pathology.
Back pain and physical activity
When suffering from osteochondrosis or rheumatism, a person’s movement is restricted, it is difficult for him to bend and squat, and he is usually unable to stand upright-any change in body posture is accompanied by obvious pain.
Back pain associated with kidney disease has different manifestations. A person may feel discomfort when standing or lying on his back, but not sore in other positions. Posture changes are much easier. Finding a comfortable position allows you to relax.
Patients with renal ptosis are more difficult to tolerate physical activity: when actively exercising, the back pain where the kidney is located increases.
Pat the back
To find out whether the kidneys or the spine are the source of low back pain, you can use the back tap technique.
Percussion algorithm:
- The person lies on his stomach with a part of his back exposed under his lower ribs.
- An open palm is placed in this area.
- Gently tap the lying palm with your fist (and the edge of the palm or fingertips).
If the back pain in the kidney area is aggravated when hitting, the matching organ is the true source.
It is important to understand that the effectiveness of this method does not depend on the strength of the blow: when the blow causes shock, soreness will show up. Therefore, assistants must be cautious when tapping in a home environment.
The real cause of waist pain
By identifying the cause of the discomfort, you can understand why the back is painful in the kidney area. In most cases, the causes are external-they are related to physical activity, increased pressure, rapid changes in temperature, and disease.
To find out the cause of the pain-from the kidneys or spine-it is enough to remember what happened the day before. The following events usually cause rheumatism:
- Heavy manual labor;
- Sudden or intense training;
- weightlifting;
- Any abnormal load;
- Unlucky autumn.
All of these usually lead to muscle stretching, nerve compression, disc displacement or hernia formation.
Kidney problems are caused by swimming in cold water, hypothermia, sitting on the ground, or viral diseases (ARVI or sore throat).
Other signs of kidney disease
How to distinguish renal pain from osteochondrosis or sciatica? To do this, it is enough to focus only on the specific symptoms of kidney disease.
The following signs never accompany spinal problems:
- Extreme heat-the temperature rises to 40 C;
- Significant swelling in the morning;
- Blood and pus impurities in urine;
- Increased urination;
- Burning sensation when urinating;
- Pressure surge
- nausea;
- Sleep deterioration.
How to distinguish pyelonephritis from osteochondrosis or back muscle problems? A clear sign of the inflammatory process is the appearance of purulent particles in the urine.
Back pain symptoms
If the lower back is pulled, the kidneys are okay. The symptoms of spinal disease and muscle problems are very similar. However, muscle cramps are manifested as a characteristic tingling sensation, which is likely to have "goose bumps" where it was injured. The muscles seem to become numb, but when surface warming agents (gels, ointments, or other anti-inflammatory drugs) are used, the sensitivity will return.
Friction is not effective for kidney problems. But taking antispasmodics can relieve the patient's condition. Another trick on how to distinguish between osteochondrosis and kidney pain caused by stones is to take a hot bath. Due to heat exposure, the body will relax and the spasm of the stone will be relieved.
Kidney pain and low back pain examination
When shooting in the kidney, it is important to have a comprehensive examination, and general examination is part of it. Kidney pathology can be confirmed by elevated levels of ESR and white blood cells, and sometimes by low hemoglobin in the blood. Urinalysis should confirm leukocytosis, inflammation-it shows pus impurities, stones-excess salt and blood impurities.
In order to confirm the diagnosis of inflammatory diseases, urine samples need to be collected. It also provides for urine culture.
When the source of low back pain is the kidney, a treatment plan is developed after additional abdominal ultrasound. If a tumor is suspected, a tomography scan is performed.
Non-kidney disease is mainly diagnosed by examination and X-ray examination.