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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.
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