Common causes of low back pain in children.

Abstract

Low back pain in children and adolescents is often caused by a serious problem. The diagnostic investigation should begin with a complete patient history, complete physical examination, laboratory testing, and plain radiography. These results should be used to direct further imaging studies. Although most of the painful injuries that children sustain in recreational activities are mild, back pain that lasts for extended periods may be due to various disorders, including spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis, disk herniation, Scheuermann disease, or neoplasms. Low back pain can also be caused by diskitis and osteomyelitis, most commonly found in children younger than 10 years old. Primary osseous neoplasms of the lumbar spine are uncommon, with Ewing sarcoma, aneurysmal bone cyst, benign osteoblastoma, and osteoid osteoma being the most common followed by primary lymphoma. These lesions occur more often between the ages of 5 and 20 years. Other causes of low back pain include spinal cord tumors (eg, ependymoma), congenital disorders of the spine (eg, scoliosis), and systemic disease (eg, sickle cell disease).