can indigestion cause back pain?
To determine if your back pain is related to gastrointestinal reflux disease (GERD), you will need to look at your other symptoms, specifically heartburn, as heartburn can travel from your chest and throat to your lower back and between your shoulder blades.
GERD can feel like an uncomfortable burning sensation in the back of the throat, a tightness in the chest, and an upset stomach.
Usually brought on by eating a meal too quickly or eating too much, an attack of GERD can leave you feeling debilitated, perhaps especially when back pain is present as well.
If you’ve ever had a sour taste in your throat after you’ve eaten too quickly, consumed a large meal, or if you’ve felt a burning in your esophagus and a tightness in your chest, it’s likely you were experiencing acid reflux.
Acid reflux occurs when stomach acid or bile enters the lower esophageal sphincter and irritates the pipe lining.
This may make it difficult to swallow, to speak, and is generally uncomfortable.
If you have acid reflux, while your instinct may be to get in bed and relax, lying down may actually make it worse.
Most cases will go away on their own in a few hours aided by over-the-counter medications or home remedies, but if you experience acid reflux and back pain regularly, you should see a doctor.
If you think your back pain is caused by acid reflux, you may have any or all the following symptoms:
There are several causes of acid reflux and back pain.
These include:
Experiencing sharp pain in your chest and back?
Here’s why it happens and some risks and warnings to look out for.
If not effectively treated, acid reflux can turn into chronic cases of GERD.
The symptoms of GERD include heartburn which can cause lower back pain.
The pain in your chest and throat can radiate to your lower back.
Hunching over while eating a large meal can trigger this back pain as well, as your posture may apply more pressure on your stomach and diaphragm and affect your ability to digest food clearly.
If you are experiencing chronic cases of GERD and heartburn, you may notice an increased intensity in your symptoms.
Your chest pain may radiate to your back between your shoulder blades, lower back, and down into your abdomen.
You should visit a doctor if your heartburn is manifesting as increased back pain.
Your impulse when experiencing nausea from acid reflux may be to lie down.
Lying down can actually aggravate your acid reflux more, so instead consider finding a calm, quiet place to sit for a while.
To alleviate back pain brought on by acid reflux, improve your posture when you sit to stretch out your diaphragm.
In most cases, acid reflux can be treated with home remedies, lifestyle changes, and over-the-counter medications.
Some medications can be helpful in treatment of acid reflux, including those that are available over-the-counter and some that you may need a prescription to obtain.
There are also some at-home remedies that may be helpful, including the following:
It’s time to see a doctor when you have explored your options with home remedies, over-the-counter medications, and lifestyle changes and are still suffering from GERD regularly.
Ongoing symptoms could indicate a more serious health condition.
If you experience any of the following symptoms, you should seek medical attention immediately:
Mild cases of acid reflux can be treated with over-the-counter medicine, but recurring or severe symptoms could indicate a more serious health condition and if you’re experiencing them, you should see a doctor.
More than likely, they will do a physical examination and potentially order other tests such as an endoscopy.
Your doctor may also want to do a blood or stool test to determine if your recurring GERD is the result of a bacterial infection that will need antibiotic treatment.
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Stomach ache or back pain are usually not symptoms of indigestion. If you have those you might be constipated.
The back is often the site of referred pain. Referred pain is pain that you experience in a part of the body that is not the actual source of the discomfort. For example, a heart attack, which is a problem with blood flow to the heart muscle, can cause pain to radiate from the heart into the back and elsewhere.
Keep reading to learn more about possible causes for back pain after eating.
Signs of digestive distress often include pains in your abdomen or reactions that include vomiting or diarrhea. Depending on the condition, however, you could feel pain in your back as well.
A peptic ulcer can cause referred pain in your back. This type of ulcer is a sore in your stomach or the small intestines. Typical symptoms include:
Ulcers can be mild or quite painful. For the more serious cases, pain can be felt in the back as well.
Heartburn is another digestive disorder that may cause pain in your back. Symptoms of heartburn caused by gastrointestinal reflux disease (GERD), include a burning sensation in the chest, a sour taste in the mouth, and pain the middle of your back.
One of the most common causes of back pain is poor posture. If you sit hunched over your food during a meal, you may finish eating with soreness in your back. That same pain can develop if you’re hunched over your computer or if you maintain a slouched position most of the time.
Your kidneys are situated near the muscles in the mid- to lower part of your back. When you have a kidney infection, one of the symptoms you may notice is back pain near one or both of your kidneys. Other symptoms, such as more frequent urination, a burning sensation when urinating, and abdominal pain are also often present. A kidney infection is a potentially serious health problem and should be treated promptly.
Back pain can be a sign of a heart attack. Other warning signs of a cardiac event include: