Services

backpain

Your health care provider will examine your back and assess your ability to sit, stand, walk and lift your legs. Your provider might also ask you to rate your pain on a scale of zero to 10 and talk to you about how your pain affects your daily activities.

These assessments help determine where the pain comes from, how much you can move before pain forces you to stop and whether you have muscle spasms. They also can help rule out more-serious causes of back pain.

One or more of these tests might help pinpoint the cause of the back pain:

X-ray. These images show arthritis or broken bones. These images alone won't show problems with the spinal cord, muscles, nerves or disks.

MRI or CT scans. These scans generate images that can reveal herniated disks or problems with bones, muscles, tissue, tendons, nerves, ligaments and blood vessels.

Blood tests. These can help determine whether an infection or other condition might be causing pain.

Nerve studies. Electromyography (EMG) measures the electrical impulses produced by the nerves and how the muscles respond to them. This test can confirm pressure on the nerves caused by herniated disks or narrowing of the spinal canal (spinal stenosis).