Spine & Back Care: Warning Signs - Health Channel

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Spine & Back Care: Warning Signs |

There are some warning signs about back pain: pain in the extremities, recent unwanted weight loss, fever and grain numbness and incontinence.
Dr. Georgiy Brusovanik, Spine Surgeon with Baptist Health South Florida, advises being aware if weight loss starts without a diet or healthy plan, because it can be related with cancer.
The specialist also recommends urgent evaluation with the doctor if incontinence appears.

Transcript

Now we have some red flags to look out for in case you’re feeling some of them, it could be something that’s coming on, the first one doctor would be pain in the extremities…> You got it so that’s really what brings patients to my office most of the time, that’s usually nerve pain and it is not amenable to narcotics, it is not amenable to muscle relaxants, you can’t sleep with it, you can’t function with it, and that’s the kind of pain that minimally invasive techniques now are so good at taking away.> All right and the next one is recent unwanted weight loss really?.> So that’s a real concerning one, I ask all of my patients if they have that, because look I don’t want to scare anyone, but that’s what clues mean – is there a possibility of a cancer, if a patient is losing weight without a diet then that deserves attention, as quickly as possible. > That makes sense all right, fever and chills.> Another important one especially for Miami, we see a lot of patients who travel to third world countries and we worry about things like amoeba, fungi and unusual bacteria, that are causing infections, so when patients tell me about nighttime sweats or fevers common things like tuberculosis need to be considered.> And what about growing numbness and incontinence do you see that often?.> Thankfully not, and that’s another one that’s really concerning because if you start to become incontinent, we only have about 24 hours to get that patient back to normal before it becomes permanent, so I asked all of my patients do you have groin numbness, and do you have a loss of ability to hold a urine, or number two, so for these patients I would really advise urgent, urgent, urgent conversation or at least an evaluation with the doctor.

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