If your teen is athletic and involved in sports, back pain could be a sign of a so-called stress fracture in one of the bones in the low back. A stress fracture, also called a stress injury, is a minute crack in the surface of a bone. It’s caused by repeated movements that put stress on the lower back, explains John Sarwark, M.D., an attending physician in orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Chicago and a professor of orthopaedic surgery at Northwestern University Medical Center.
“If a gymnast is doing walkovers or hyperextensions of the back repetitively, it can cause a stress injury. It’s like taking a wire hanger and bending it backwards and forwards over and over,” Sarwark says.
Typical symptoms of stress injuries are pain in the low back that feels like muscle strain. Your child could feel pain more sharply when sitting or bending backward. Usually, taking an anti-inflammatory medication like ibuprofen and avoiding sports until symptoms disappear is enough to allow your child’s back to heal. If those measures don’t work, your doctor may suggest physical therapy.
But the good news is that you can help prevent your child from getting a stress injury by having him or her evaluated annually by a doctor before he or she participates in sports, Sarwark says. Your doctor should test for tight hamstrings or loss of mobility in the low back and knee area. Physical therapy or stretching exercises tailored to your child could keep his or her back healthy and prevent a stress injury.
What about problems in my child’s spine?
In rare cases, a child may be born with spinal disorders or develop them later in childhood. Sometimes back problems show up around puberty when the spine is going through a growth spurt. One of the most common conditions is scoliosis, an abnormality of the spine that causes an exaggerated lateral, or “S”-shaped curve. Scoliosis is more common in girls than in boys, and it’s typically not painful. However, if the curve is severe, your doctor may recommend that your child wear a hidden brace to prevent the curve from becoming more pronounced as she or he grows. (If your child has scoliosis, her shoulders or waist may appear uneven or she may lean to one side.)
According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic surgeons, chronically poor posture during adolescence can in rare cases stretch the ligaments and give rise to a curved or slightly humped back, a condition called kyphosis. It’s correctable through exercise, rarely causes pain, and is more common in adolescent girls.
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What are less common causes of back pain in children and teens?
Back pain can also be a sign of a problem unrelated to the spine. Kidney problems can cause low back pain, on either side of the spine. Usually, your child would also have difficult or painful urination, according to Rimsza.
Staph infections can also cause symptoms of back pain, says Rimsza. In this case, a child will usually have a fever as well as pronounced tenderness in a certain area of the back. This requires immediate medical treatment.
In very rare cases, back pain may be caused by a tumor. Before starting a treatment program for a child’s back pain, doctors will do tests to rule out infection, fractures and cancer.
How can I keep my child’s back healthy?
- Remind your kids to sit up straight. Make sure your child’s backpack isn’t overloaded. And if back pain is keeping your child up at night, waking her from sleep, or interfering with daily activities, see a doctor.
- Educate yourself about sports injuries. For example, children under six should never play on a trampoline, and even those over six should always have an adult present when there’s somebody on it.
- Supervise your child when he or she is playing on swings or other playground equipment. Teach him or her not to walk or run in front or back of the swings — or stand on them.
- Stress safety when your child takes up a new sport. For example, a child who begins skiing, skating, or snowboarding should take lessons to learn good techniques, including the proper way to fall.
- Suit up. Children riding bicycles or riding scooters should always wear helmets. For contact sports, kids should use helmets in addition to face masks, and mouth guards. Skateboarders and skaters should have a helmet in addition to wrist and knee guards.
- Finally, seatbelts and child safety seats are the best protection for children riding in cars. Babies and small children should have their own child safety seats. And protests aside, kids should always sit in the back seat until they are 13 years old.