Does High Blood Pressure Cause Back Pain?

There are myriad ways high blood pressure or hypertension can cause problems to the body and back pain surprisingly is on this list.

Yes, back pain which is usually associated with either simple physical strains or even anatomical problems like muscle and ligament strains, bulging or ruptured discs, osteoporosis, and arthritis, can be caused by hypertension. While other physical strains or back problems are easily identified, hypertension caused back pain can be a threat, as hypertension often goes under the radar without regular testing.

To improve your understanding of back pain and its causes, in this blog we delve into the unlikely relationship between back pain and blood pressure. Read on:

Hypertension and Its Impact on your body:

Hypertension also called high blood pressure is the chronic elevation of the pressure that blood puts on the walls of blood vessels that carry it. It is characteristic of the resistance the blood meets while passing the arteries as the heart pumps the blood.

Narrow arteries increase the resistance and hence heart has to work extra hard to pump the blood with more pressure for circulation which over time can damage walls of the arteries and when uncontrolled high blood pressure can cause serious health issues and complications.

Hypertension is considered a common condition among the adults and in the UK, almost 25% of the adult population are reported to suffer from this condition, according to NHS. Given it develops over the years without any significant symptoms, it is a considered a silent condition, but even without symptoms hypertension over time can cause significant damage to the blood vessels and vital organs especially heart, kidneys, brain and eyes.

Hypertension and back pain:

Aorta is the largest blood vessel in the human body that carries blood from heart to arms, abdomen, pelvis and legs. Stretching from the heart it passes through heart branching out into several capillaries to various organs in the body. When the walls of the artery become weak, the artery can balloon in size causing severe back pain and abdominal pain and may over time rupture or leak developing into a life-threatening condition which is called as an aortic aneurysm.

This aortic aneurysm is commonly experienced (80%) in the abdominal area and since the aorta in the abdomen is near to the lower spine, intense back pain is often experienced by patients with aortic aneurysms, making back pain a common symptom in these cases. This back pain may overtime spread to pelvis, groin and legs too.

The chronic elevation of the blood pressure over time can weaken the walls of the aorta resulting in aneurism which in 80% of the cases occur in the abdomen resulting in the back pain. However, it has to be understood that though high blood pressure is a risk factor for many health issues, hypertension does not cause back pain in all cases. There are many causes of back pain and having a blood pressure further increase the risk of suffering a back pain even when steer clear from all the other spine problems. The best way forward is to get your health monitored at regular intervals and consult an experienced spine specialist in case you suffer back pain. If you are living in and around the UK, and are looking for a spine specialist in the UK, you can contact Children and Adult Spine Surgeon Mr Jwalant S Mehta here: https://www.mehtaspine.co.uk