Does Colon Cancer Cause Back Pain?

Please share this one!

… Continued …

Although many patients with colon cancer experience back pain, but in general it is not the main symptom of the disease. For in-depth information about colon cancer symptoms, see in here!

In addition, there are some types of pain to understand. These include:

  1. Referred pain! As the name implies, it is a kind of pain that is referred from another part of the body. For instance, shoulder pain (especially in the right shoulder) may occur due to swollen liver. Swollen liver can press on some nerves that line to the shoulder, causing shoulder pain.
  2. Phantom pain! It is used to describe cancer pain in certain part of the body that has been eliminated /removed. For instance, pain in a leg /arm that has been removed due to cancer. This pain can be so real and unbearable.
  3. Soft tissue pain! It directly comes from tissue damage in certain organ of the body. For instance, tissue damage to the kidney can lead pain in the back. This kind of pain is often difficult to pinpoint. Many times it is described as throbbing, aching, cramping, or sharp.
  4. Bone pain! It can occur due to cancerous growth that originally grows in the bone or comes from other parts of the body. For instance, prostate cancer often spreads to the bones, causing bone pain. And the pain may affect several areas of the bone.
  5. Neuropathic pain! It is caused by cancer that presses to nerves or causes damage to nerves. It may be the most difficult cancer pain to treat. It’s also difficult to describe. But typically it causes feeling of crawling, tingling, burning, or shooting under the skin.

As noted earlier, pain due to cancer may signal that the cancerous cells have spread /metastasized. But for colon cancer, it’s not common to spread in the spine column.

If colon cancer does cause back pain, it’s less likely that this symptom signals the metastatic cancer to the spinal column. Instead, it’s more likely to occur due to digestive problems caused by the cancer.

In fact, abdominal discomforts (including constipation) are common in people with colon cancer. And constipation can factor into back pain.

In rare cases, colon cancer causes an emergency condition called bowel obstruction, a condition of when the stool can be very difficult to pass through. This  bowel obstruction can be partly or even completely blocked.

Furthermore, colon cancer may also cause  a ‘referred pain’ so thus the pain may also be felt in a different part /organ of the body such as the back. Some treatments for this cancer such as chemotherapy, might also affect nerves that line to the spine.

Citations /references:

  1. http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Back-pain/Pages/Introduction.aspx
  2. http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancerbasics/signs-and-symptoms-of-cancer
  3. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/coping-with-cancer/coping-physically/pain/types-and-causes-of-cancer-pain

.

Please Leave a Few Words

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *