Sunday, April 29, 2012

Can Constipation Cause Back Pain?

(Image credit to shutterstock)
There are some people with constipation that also experience back pain! The big question, is there any correlation between constipation and back pain? Unfortunately, there is less information about this issue on internet. What else you need to know? Keep reading!

You might also to know more detailed information about appropriately exercises for back pain and best mattress for back pain, before continuing!

Though there may be no directly link that constipation can cause back pain, but there is an opinion that back pain may occur when your body keep producing waste materials but on the other hand you have difficult in bowel movements, which then eventually may lead to more pressure in the lower back.

Bowel movements and constipation

The normal range of bowel movements can be different from person to person. Some people can get their bowel movements once or 2-3 times a day, while others may only 2-3 times a week. But if you in more than 3 days don’t have any bowel movement, your cycle is too long that can put you at higher risk of constipation.

Common causes of back pain

In fact, constipation is not one of common causes of back pain but there may be a chance for people with constipation to also experience back pain! Some common factors that can lead to back pain may include:
  1. Problems what we call as mechanical problems -- particularly like inter-vertebral disc degeneration, which describes the breaking down process of the disc positioned between the vertebrae of the spine. Your risk of having inter-vertebral disc degeneration increases gradually as you get older.
  2. Certain spine injuries, like fractures and sprains. These injuries can lead to chronic or just short-lived back pain! Fractured vertebrae are usually triggered by osteoporosis. In a few cases, back pain also can be caused by serious injuries or severe injuries from falls & accident.
  3. Having certain health condition, which may include; some types of arthritis (including ankylosing, spinal stenosis, spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoarthritis), spondylolisthesis, and scoliosis. Sometimes, back pain may also occur in some women with pregnancy, people with fibromyalgia, endometriosis, or people who have kidney stones.
  4. And overuse or injury of muscles, joints, and ligaments! These conditions are also often associated to the common causes of low back pain!
What else you need to know?
  1. In few cases, back pain also can be caused by a kind of infection, particularly such as osteomyelitis (infection that involves vertebrae) and discitis (infection that involves discs of the vertebrae). In rare cases, tumors also can lead to back pain, especially for some of them that begin in the back.
  2. Some experts also believe that the emotional stress can influence how long back pain lasts! People with back pain and at the same time also have untreated anxiety disorder or depression will be more likely to need more days or weeks to relive their pain.
  3. And in a few cases, back pain may be one of constipation symptoms -- but not for common constipation symptoms! Generally, some common signs or symptoms of constipation may include problems associated with bowel movements (particularly such as; difficulty or infrequent bowel movements), abdominal pain (swollen abdomen), and vomiting!
Furthermore, you should clearly understand that back pain is not a diagnosis itself, but a symptom or a sign of a medical condition! If you in doubt to your condition, talk more with a doctor for a clearly diagnosis  whether or not your constipation cause back pain!
Reference: WebMD