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Back Pain

What is back pain?

Anything that puts stress on the bones and tissues of the spine can make your child’s back hurt.

Children and teenagers may feel pain in their backs if they have been carrying something heavy, such as a backpack or a laundry basket. They may hurt their backs if they fall while running or playing or if they are injured during sports.

The pain may feel like achy muscles, or it may be very sharp — a shooting or stabbing feeling. Back pain can make it hard for your child to bend or stand up straight.

How do you evaluate back pain?

Usually, back pain in children is not caused by a serious condition. For most, the pain goes away after a few days of rest.

When your child comes to our clinic, we will ask questions to find out what is wrong:

  • How bad is the pain? Does it prevent your child from sleeping at night, going to school or playing? Does your child have to stop participating in sports or other activities he enjoys?
  • How long has your child had the back pain?
  • Is the back pain worse early in the day or late in the day?
  • Does your child feel numbness, tingling or weakness in his legs?
  • Has the back pain changed his bladder control or bowel movements?
  • Has your child lost a lot of weight or had a high fever along with the back pain?
MRI of discitis
MRI of discitis. The typical intense inflammatory reaction seen on MRI may lead to over-treatment.

If your child has severe or moderate back pain that lasts more than six weeks, a health-care provider who specializes in children’s muscles, bones and joints will evaluate his condition.

The provider will ask you for the details of your child’s medical history and examine his back.

We also will assess your child’s nervous system, checking his reflexes and doing other tests. We may ask that your child have X-rays.

After reviewing the X-rays, the exam results and your child’s symptoms, we may ask your child to have additional tests to evaluate his back.

These tests may include blood tests to check for arthritis, a bone scan to look for inflamed areas in the bones of the spine or an MRI to look at the spinal cord and other structures of the spine that are not bone.

The MRI makes a two-dimensional picture that can help us see what might be causing your child’s back pain.

Who gets back pain?

All children can have back pain, but it is a less common problem in children who are younger than age 10. For these young children, it is unusual for back pain to limit their activity for more than a day or two.

An increasing number of teenagers complain of ongoing (chronic) back pain. Up to 30% of teens and 80% of adults will have periods when back pain is bad enough to limit their activities for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

Research studies do not clearly tell us if carrying backpacks hurts children’s backs. We do know that both children and adults are less likely to have back pain if they do regular aerobic activity, such as running or playing hard enough to get out of breath, for a half-hour or so three or four times a week.

What is your experience with treating back pain?

The way we diagnose and treat our patients sets Children’s Hospital apart.

First, we take care to find out what is causing your child’s pain. Second, we believe that surgery is not necessary for most back problems in children.

To find the best treatment for your child, we work closely with our other specialty departments, including rheumatology, adolescent medicine, pain services and neurosurgery.

If your child needs surgery, our doctors have a national reputation for excellence in all types of spine surgery.

How do you treat back pain?

The Department of Orthopedics at Children’s has specialists who treat serious back problems in children.

We have a team of physician assistants and orthopedic pediatricians that is skilled at evaluating and treating mild to moderate back pain.