ICD-11

This is a condition characterised by pain felt in the back that usually originates from the muscles, nerves, bones, joints or other structures in the spine.

Back pain may have a sudden onset or can be a chronic pain; it can be constant or intermittent, stay in one place or radiate to other areas. It may be a dull ache, or a sharp or piercing or burning sensation. The pain may radiate into the arms and hands as well as the legs or feet, and may include symptoms other than pain. These symptoms may include tingling, weakness or numbness.

The challenges of diagnosis in patients with spinal pain, however, are that spinal pain is often multifactorial, the factors involved are wide ranging, and for most of these factors there exist no definitive objective tests.

This is a group of conditions characterised by pain perceived anywhere in the region bounded superiorly by a transverse line through the tip of the spinous process of T1, inferiorly by a transverse line through the tip of the spinous process of T12, and laterally by vertical lines tangential to the most lateral margins of the erector spinae muscles.

This area can be divided into upper, middle and lower thirds. Pain felt lateral to this area is defined as posterior chest wall pain, and does not constitute thoracic spinal pain.