Referred Pain

Referred pain is usually found in the low back area which radiates in to buttock, groin and thighs. This pain could be a mild or severe one which may be achy, dull or migratory in nature. It can be caused due to an injury or an identical problem that causes axial back pain. This pain has the habit of moving around but it does not radiate below the knee area. referred pain is a pain that radiates down the left arm during a heart attack.

There is a huge network interconnecting sensory nerves which supplies many of the tissues of the low back, thigh and pelvis. Therefore, an injury to any of these structures will allow the pain to radiate or to be referred to other structures. This type of pain is not caused due to the pinched nerves.

Diagnosis of referred low back pain
The diagnosis of referred pain is difficult to determine as the brain is unable to know the specific source of the pain. It is often difficult to distinguish between referred and radicular pain. The only point of difference between the two is that, radical pain radiates down to the leg whereas referred pain does not. But, it is important to correctly distinguish between the two because the treatment of each varies considerably.

Treatment of referred low back pain
Referred pain can be treated and diminished with conservative care. However, some of the non-surgical treatments for referred pain may include one or combination of the following:
1) Rest for a short period, mainly one or two days
2) Hot pads or ice packs
3) Physical therapy, stretching and active exercise
4) Useful medications for pain relief

Some treatments like laminectomy and disectomy surgery are not useful for such pain. If above treatments are unable to treat the pain than other additional non surgical treatments are tried to get rid of the pain.