Back Pain

Symptoms

You may feel a variety of symptoms if you have hurt your back, including:
• Tingling or burning sensation
• Dull aching
• Sharp pain
• Weakness in your legs or feet

Low back pain can vary widely. The pain may be mild, or it can be so severe that you are unable to move.
Depending on the cause of your back pain, you may also have pain in your leg, hip, or bottom of your foot.

See: Sciatica

Signs and tests

During the physical exam, we will try to pinpoint the location of the pain and figure out how it affects your movement. You will be asked to:
• Sit, stand, and walk. You may be asked to try walking on your toes and then on your heels.
• Bend forward, backward, and sideways.
• Lift your legs straight up while lying down.

We will also move your legs into different positions to check your strength and ability to move. This usually includes bending and straightening your knees.

We will check the reflexes in your legs, which reveals how well certain nerves are working. This may include:
Gently tapping a rubber hammer on certain parts of your legs and feet to see how they respond
Touching different areas of the leg with a pin, cotton swab or feather to see how well you can feel each object

You should tell us if there are areas where the sensation from the pin, cotton, or feather feels dull.

Further testing is determined by your medical history and symptoms (including how the symptoms developed)