Back Pain Emergency Room Visits

If you develop a sudden onset of extreme low back pain or sciatica there are some basic steps.

Back pain emergency room visits.

Doctors take back pain seriously because it may it may be symptoms of compression of one or more. Approximately 80 of adults will experience back pain in their lives so it s important to be able to identify the severity of your symptoms and track how long the pain lasts. In this episode of er or not emergency room physician dr. There are really not a lot of reasons for when you need to go seek emergency care for low back pain says stacey popko a pediatrician internist and overseer of guideline development for.

If you have low back pain then you know how painful and debilitating this condition can be. Troy madsen details the two symptoms you should be looking for that could be signs of something requiring immediate emergency care. It may be a simple and common complaint among many but there are times when back pain becomes a symptom of a serious underlying condition. It might not be fair but if a patient comes in screaming and shouting that they need pain medication right away the staff isn t going to.

The second one might surprise you. As mentioned above 4 out of every people experience back pain at some time in their lives and the majority of people develop temporary pain due to self correcting conditions such as muscle spasms and trained ligaments. Upwards of 90 of emergency room cases involving low back pain are benign 1 but spine pain that interferes with your daily life shouldn t be ignored. Back pain even with tingling or numbness in your leg pain that makes you limp and hurts to sit or stand for long doesn t belong in the emergency room.

Back pain is so common in fact that many patients shrug off symptoms that might indicate a medical emergency. Work cooperatively with emergency room staff. Visiting the emergency room for back pain is usually one of the most frustrating experiences for any patient to endure. In fact in the many years we have been helping to provide advocacy and education services for back and neck pain sufferers the most common negative healthcare report that we receive from patients is their dissatisfaction with er services.

Should you visit the emergency department for back pain. So how do we know if our backache warrants a visit to the emergency room. Severe back pain is rarely a medical emergency. The serious spinal disorders outlined here often require spine surgery and acting quickly may prevent the potential for permanent nerve damage.