Low back pain as a result of constipation

Do you know that 60% of people with lower back pain, especially waist pain, also has associated constipation. In 1826 a research in Harvard University, established the fact, that constipation especially chronic ones, without pathological underpinning, eventually results in lower back pain. Constipation, associated lower back pain surprisingly is more common in women. The elderly are predisposed due to comorbid medical conditions, medications, poor eating habits, decreased mobility and, in some cases, inability to sit on a toilet (bed bound patients).

My patients usually look at me as a magician, when they present with waist pain, and my first question is usually ‘are you constipated? When did you open your bowel last? A Reverend Sister who brought someone to consult me, called me same day at near midnight, with an “Eureka” type of exclamation as Archimedes, the Greek Scholar did, when he accidentally discovered the volumetric equivalence of solid gold, when he stepped into a bath.

The Rev Sister shouted “doctor you are right, it just occurred to me now, on what you said earlier today about constipation being related to low back pain. That my lower back pain may be due to constipation. I open my bowel averagely sometimes twice a week, with severe back pain, and this could be followed by diarrhea, and the back pain will subside.

So if you have a lower back pain, make sure you are not constipated, before consulting your doctor. Note that because of large space the digestive tract occupies in the body. It is possible for signs and symptoms of low back pain to manifest when you experience constipation. Typically this lower back pain will appear as a dull, aching pain that extends from your lower back to the rest of your abdomen – typically a sign of blocked rectum or stool backup in your colon. This could result in.

Fecal impaction – fecal impaction is a severe condition where your stool is unable to pass through your colon or rectum causing extreme pressure on the organ around the area. Typically the treatment for fecal impaction is an enema, laxatives, water irrigation or anal suppositories.

General constipation – the more likely cause of lower back pain is constipation itself, since the blockage of fecal matter in your digestive tract presses on the muscles and nerves of your body. This causes feedback of sensations that steadily get worse as the mass of feces grows. Relief is only brought by evacuation of the rectum. The first step in evaluating a patient is to determine what is meant by “constipation “.

Patients may define constipation as infrequent stools, fewer than three in a week, hard stools, excessive straining, or a sense of incomplete evaluation. When people have constipation that cannot be attributed to any structural abnormalities or systemic disease. Most of these patients have normal colonic transit time, however a few have slow colonic transit or anorectal dysfunction. Normal colonic transit time is approximately 35 hours. This accommodates people who open their bowels once in two days.

Treatment is typically less aggressive than that of fecal impaction, revolving round diet and management of bowel movement. Medications may be used, but we usually recommend them as a last resort.

Life style changes like exercise and stretching are also excellent treatment options, but should not be used as the only solution to treating the problem. Always be medically guided.

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