Flank Pain

Flank pain is a medical condition that is characterized by mild to severe aching in the part of the body situated between the back and the upper abdomen. This condition is commonly associated with problems in the kidney. To know the other factors that contribute to the etiology of the pain, it is important that patients learn the different symptoms of this health condition. At the onset of any symptom, patients are highly advised to visit their physicians to determine the real cause of the problem. After doing several diagnostic procedures, health professionals can advise or recommend effective medicines that individuals can take to ease the pain.

Flank Pain Symptoms

The symptoms of flank pain can range from dull to stabbing ache. Patients who experience mild and recurrent ache can try some first aid treatments and should visit their physicians whenever they are free. However, individuals who experience sharp, shooting, sudden and severe pain that runs to the back should seek immediate help since this can be caused by a serious illness. Aside from these, patients are advised to ask immediate assistance from health professionals if ever the symptoms stated above are accompanied with chills, fever as well as urgent and frequent urination.

Causes of Flank Pain

This health condition has different etiologies. Some of the most common causes of flank pain are shingles, spinal arthritis, disk disease as well as muscle spasm. Other possible causes of this condition are acute pyelonephritis, kidney stone and kidney abscess.

Flank Pain Diagnosis

To determine the cause of flank pain, physicians do some advance medical procedures. These can include abdominal computed tomography scan, urinary tract infection, cytoscopy, intravenous pyelography and retrograde ureteropyelography. Aside from these, health experts can also recommend their patients to undergo serial urine and serum analysis, voiding cystourethrogaphy, lumbosacral spine x-ray and abdominal ultrasound. To make sure that the diagnosis of physicians are true and reliable, they conduct thorough physical examination and they evaluate the medical history of their patients.

Flank Pain Relief

When it comes to treatments, patients who experience minor and mild symptoms are usually recommended to take pain relievers like ibuprofen and morphine. However, patients who experience severe symptoms and who are diagnosed with chronic flank pain are advised to undergo surgical procedures. Other treatments that are commonly advised by physicians to those who have experience sharp pain include chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Those who were diagnosed with urinary tract infection are usually advised to take antibiotics.