Is back pain a sign of cancer?

It might definitely seem very unusual to link the back pain to that of cancer in the lungs. However, there is much evidence to prove the association. It is established that almost 25% of people who have lung cancer can complain about a history of having back pain. The back pain caused by lung cancer shares many commonalities with other disorders; however, it also shows some distinct differences.

Other cancers like related bone carcinoma, mouth cancers, testicular cancers, gastric cancers all have a common symptom, a back pain. Many destructive diseases may be the different causes of back pain. For example, malignancy and/or infection in the tumor, ankylosing spondylitis, and epidural abscess account for less than 1% of the low back ache cases. Spine cancer also causes very severe back pain and is often easy to differentiate from the idiopathic back pain or the slip disk/ degenerative disease. Metastatic cancer also can mimic the idiopathic low back pain. So, it is essential to find out the underlying causes of chronic back pain and treat it before it gets worse.