Burning back pain is a common description used by many patients to detail feelings of heat which are experienced in addition to their other symptoms, including pain and related neurological expressions, such as tingling or numbness. Burning is a sensation that is associated with many types of pain syndromes, from gastrointestinal concerns to headaches.
The body views extreme heat as a source of discomfort, so it is common for many painful conditions to produce actual or perceived heat. A burning sensation is possible in a specific location of the back or may radiate from a central point into the limbs.
I have recently been victimized by extreme burning pain in my neck, as if there is literally liquid fire running through the cervical spine into the area between the shoulder blades. I notice this mostly when standing in one place for an extended period of time, particularly at my computer. Not fun… not fun at all! This perceived burning sensation can be a very frightening symptomatic expression for any patient to bear.
Burning Back Pain Causes
There are several potential causes of a burning feeling combined with back ache:
Back muscle pain often demonstrates a real or perceived increase in temperature in the affected muscles. The buildup of toxic waste chemicals in the back muscles can create a hot sensation, as can an inflammatory process common to minor muscular injuries. These types of back pain are often confined to a specific area or region of the back. It is possible for the heat to radiate as the body slowly disperses the waste chemicals from the muscle.
Oxygen deprivation back pain can cause many sensory perceptions besides simple pain. Heat, tingling, weakness and numbness are often characteristic of this type of pain. Oxygen deprivation can be caused by a physical source, but is also often sourced by the mindbody process. The only proven effective treatment for psychoemotionally-driven pain is knowledge therapy.
Some patients with chemical radiculitis also complain of burning sensations in the affected area, which may explain why some disc issues might involve this feeling of fluid heat. This might figure into my own neck condition, although I do not have definitive evidence of it.
Some forms of infection of the spine may cause actual heat to exist. In these cases, the pain may or may not be wholly caused by the bacterial process. I see this occasionally in patients who have discitis, but is far more commonly associated by infection caused by back surgery.
Some doctors speculate that a few patients with the perception of heat may also be experiencing increased friction in the spinal joints due to facet syndrome or other osteoarthritic processes.
Help for Burning Back Pain
Any back pain can be a real trial to endure. When additional symptoms are present, common dorsopathy can become a true and frightening torture. The key to overcoming any type of back pain is getting a true and accurate diagnosis. Without this, any treatment is almost bound to fail before it even starts. When you figure possibly neurological expressions, such as burning into the mix, the risk for a mistaken diagnosis rises considerably.
I know that the feeling of burning lower back pain can be very disturbing. Sometimes I get it so badly that I begin to obsess about the actual causative process in painful detail. Of course, in my case, it could be lots of reasons, since my neck is such a disaster at this stage of life… Every disc is herniated and one badly displacing the spinal cord. Ouch!
Although I have not found any particular treatment which seems to relieve this burning, I am not overly concerned. It seems to be just another of many possible symptoms which can be sourced by my own combination of anatomical and mindbody pain issues.
