Gonorrhea: Symptoms, Treatment, Causes, and More
Back And Testicle Pain: Causes And Treatment - Medical News Today
Possible causes of lower back and testicular pain include lumbar spondylolisthesis, epididymitis, kidney stones, and more. A doctor can diagnose the cause of the pain and advise on suitable treatments.
In this article, we discuss some possible causes of lower back and testicle pain. We also cover when to consult a doctor.
Lumbar spondylolisthesis is a condition in which one of the vertebrae, which is one of the small bones comprising the backbone, in the lower part of the spine, or lumbar region, slips out of place. Spondylolisthesis can occur due to injuries, repetitive strain on the spine, or general wear and tear as someone gets older.
Lumbar spondylolisthesis can cause lower back pain if the slipped vertebra places pressure on one of the spinal nerves. This pain can sometimes radiate down to the testicles or legs.
Other symptoms can include:
These symptoms may improve when a person is sitting or leaning forward.
Treatment
Surgical treatment may be necessary for people with lumbar spondylolisthesis that does not improve with other treatments and for those with a loss of nerve function.
UTIs can cause pain or a burning sensation while urinating, and this pain may extend to the testicles. A person may also experience a constant urge to urinate.
Treatment
Doctors typically prescribe antibiotics for individuals with a bacterial UTI. It is important to follow the doctor's instructions when taking antibiotics and to complete the entire course.
Drinking plenty of water and urinating frequently can help speed up recovery. Over-the-counter (OTC) medications can also help relieve pain and discomfort.
Epididymitis is the swelling of the epididymis, a duct that stores and transports sperm from the testicles to the vas deferens. Doctors define the vas deferens as a coiled tube that carries the sperm out of the testicles.
The swelling of the epididymis can cause pain in the scrotum and testicles that sometimes radiates to other areas of the body, including the groin area and the lower back or sides.
Possible causes of epididymitis include sexually transmitted infections, such as chlamydia, and UTIs. However, there is not always an obvious cause, and in some people, epididymitis can be a chronic condition.
Depending on the cause, a person with epididymitis may also experience symptoms that include painful urination, fever, and a frequent urge to urinate.
Treatment
The type of treatment for epididymitis depends on the cause. A doctor will usually prescribe antibiotics for people with a bacterial infection.
Resting and elevating the scrotum can help reduce swelling. OTC anti-inflammatory medications, such as ibuprofen and naproxen, may also relieve pain and discomfort.
Blockages can result in sharp pain in the lower back and sides that may also radiate to the lower abdomen, the groin area, and the tip of the penis.
Other symptoms of kidney stones can include:
Treatment
The treatment options will depend on the severity of the symptoms and the size of the stones.
Smaller stones do not always require treatment and may leave the body in the urine. Drinking plenty of fluid can help the stones pass out more quickly. Doctors may also prescribe pain relievers and medications, such as tamsulosin, to relax the ureter.
A doctor may recommend a medical procedure to remove kidney stones that are large, very painful, or affecting kidney function. Removal procedures can include surgery or involve shock wave therapy to break the stone into smaller pieces that a person can pass.
The most common first symptom is either a lump on the testicle or the testicle becoming swollen or larger. Testicular cancer can sometimes cause pain in the testicle and a feeling of heaviness in the scrotum or lower abdomen. Some people may also notice breast soreness or unusual breast growth due to hormonal changes.
If testicular cancer spreads to other parts of the body, it can cause additional symptoms, such as:
Treatment
Treatment varies depending on the type and stage of testicular cancer when the doctor makes the diagnosis. Treatment options can include:
Pelvic floor dysfunction involves difficulty controlling the pelvic floor muscles. It forces the surrounding muscles to contract rather than relax.
A person with pelvic floor dysfunction may have difficulty controlling their urination and experience pain in the testicles. According to an older study from 2010, this pain is particularly likely to occur in younger people.
The condition currently affects around 100,000 men in the United States annually.
Other symptoms can include:
Treatment
Treatment options include pelvic floor exercises, with an emphasis on contraction, and biofeedback, which involves learning to control bodily processes that are usually involuntary.
Doctors may also prescribe medications, such as NSAIDs, to reduce inflammation.
If a person has severe symptoms or complications, a doctor may recommend surgery.
When testicle pain occurs along with lower back pain, it can indicate an underlying condition. Possible causes include kidney stones, infections, and spinal problems.
People need to speak with a doctor if the pain is severe, does not go away, or occurs along with other concerning symptoms.
I've Had Pain In My Right Testicle For Eight Years – Nothing Has Shown Up In Numerous Tests - The Sun
Attention,
Our system has indicated that your user behaviour is potentially automated.
News Group Newspapers Limited does not permit the access, collection, text or data mining of any content from our Service by any automated means whether directly or through an intermediary service. This is stated in our terms and conditions.
This includes use of content for machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) purposes, engineering large language models (LLMs) or related generative AI systems.
If you would like to inquire about the commercial use of our content, please contact crawlpermission@news.Co.Uk.
How A Man's Testicle Pain Turned Out To Be A Sign Of Covid-19
Testicular pain could be a rare sign of Covid, doctors have claimed after a 49-year-old tested positive with no other symptoms.
The anonymous man, from Turkey, sought medical advice because of swelling and pain in the left side of his groin and testicles in the summer.
He did not have any symptoms of the coronavirus, such as a persistent cough or high temperature.
However, doctors decided to swab him for the disease because he was in contact with someone who had later tested positive.
Results showed he had coronavirus, therefore the doctors suspected the testicular pain was his first symptom. They said he didn't have any other health problems that could have caused it, such as an STI.
Doctors who reported the 'unusual case' in a medical journal said it shows how the coronavirus can take hold in people differently.
It is not clear how many men suffer testicular pain as a symptom of Covid-19. One small study in China suggested it was as common as one in five.
Scientists have raised concerns the virus could enter the testicles, where sperm is produced, and cause 'long-term damage'. But so far there is little evidence of this happening, and none to suggest the virus can be spread through semen — the fluid which carries sperm.
A 49-year-old man's testicular pain turned out to be a sign of Covid-19 (stock)
Ultrasound image used by the doctors to show increased inflammation along the spermatic cord (black arrows)
The story was reported in the medical journal Urology Case Reports by doctors at Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar University in Istanbul, Turkey.
Dr Hakan Özveri and colleagues said the man's testicular pain appeared to be the 'first clinical sign of Covid-19'.
The man went to the hospital with a 'swelling sensation' and pain in the left side of his groin and testicles that had started earlier that day.
At first, his discomfort was intermittent. But after a few hours, it had become more severe and spread further up to his stomach.
HOW COULD COVID-19 CAUSE TESTICULAR PAIN?Researchers have been trying to uncover whether the coronavirus can cause testicular pain and how.
After reports of men with testicular pain testing positive for the virus, scientists theorised the ACE2 receptor is to blame.
The ACE2 receptor is a protein that provides an entry point for the coronavirus to hook into and infect human cells. It is found in the nose, mouth and lungs, where the coronavirus replicates. But also on the heart, blood vessels, kidneys, liver and gastrointestinal tract.
Dr Richard Viney, a consultant urological surgeon in Birmingham, told MailOnline in April: 'The testicle is known to express the ACE2 receptor that the virus uses to access cells so this could explain why the testicles might be a target for Covid-19.'
Urologists at Suzhou Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University found ACE2 expression is highly expressed in the testes, and can be concentrated in several cells which are directly related to the male reproductive system.
'Therefore, virus might directly bind to such ACE2 positive cells and damage the kidney and testicular tissue of patients,' the researchers wrote in their paper.
They warned that doctors should pay close attention to possible damage in the testicles of coronavirus patients, especially if they are of reproductive age.
The warning was echoed by another team of scientists at Tongji Hospital, affiliated to Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan.
They said the coronavirus could cause orchitis – an inflammation of the testicles. This in turn could reduce a man's sperm count and possibly lead to infertility, according to the team.
They added that during the 2003-2004 outbreak of SARS - a virus in the same family as the one which causes Covid-19 - medics observed serious immune system damage in the testicles of some male patients.
But there is no proof the coronavirus travels through the body and replicates in the testes.
Another explanation for testicular pain in Covid-19 males is that the coronavirus travels in the bloodstream to reach the testes.
But this is 'not generally' what coronaviruses does, according to virology professor Ian Jones at the University of Reading.
An international team ruled out the possibility of the coronavirus entering cells via the ACE2 pathway in a paper published in Fertility and Sterility.
The team led by Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, used a DNA database of three healthy young organ donors from previous research to investigate if testicular cells could be infected with the virus.
The team were looking for the expression of two genes - ACE2 and TMPRSS2 - which must be present in the same cell in order for the coronavirus to enter and begin replicating.
But they did not find any evidence to show high expression of the genes. Only four of 6,500 testicular cells carried the two genes.
The team concluded that it's unlikely the virus affects testicles through an ACE2-mediated entry.
Dr Viney said: 'Certain viruses are well known to be associated with testicular damage and infertility, and mumps is a good example of this. Mumps can cause pain, inflammation and swelling of the testicles, sometimes with redness of the overlying skin.'
AdvertisementExamination of his genitals revealed tenderness in the left spermatic cord, which runs through the abdominal region down into the testes.
The man reported that it hurt to touch his nether region — but there was no visible signs of inflammation on the skin.
Doctors were unable to give an explanation for his symptoms, with tests for STIs that can cause testicular pain, including chlamydia, coming back negative.
There was no indication he had an urinary tract infection or orchitis — inflammation of the testicles usually triggered by a virus or bacterial infection.
Dr Özveri and team wrote: 'Covid-19 is a viral infection which predominantly attacks [the] respiratory organs.
'However, as in our case, patients can exhibit various symptoms in organs other than the lungs, such as in genitals.
'Patients with isolated genital symptoms such as testicular/spermatic cord pain and discomfort without other systemic symptoms should be closely followed for Covid-19.'
The man was hospitalised for treatment of Covid-19 even though he was not critically ill. He was given a five-day course of hydroxychloroquine — an anti-malarial drug which has been under trial for the potential of fighting the virus.
He was also given azithromycin and imipenem/cilastatin — two antibiotics used to treat a number of bacterial infections — despite the fact doctors insisted he did not have any other infection.
On the second day of his treatment, the man no longer complained about having any pain in his testicles.
But it took more than three weeks for him to clear coronavirus from his system. He returned home after 24 days in hospital.
It's not the first time a link between the coronavirus and pain in the scrotum or groin area has been reported by doctors.
In July, American doctors reported a 43-year-old man from Massachusetts had only testicular pain needing hospital attention before a positive Covid-19 test.
In November, it was reported a man in Italy had 'uncontrollable testicular pain' before he died of Covid-19 several days later. He also suffered shortness of breath.
It's not clear just how common the problem is because there have been no large-scale studies of both mild and seriously ill Covid-19 patients.
Scientists led by Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, found that during Covid-19 illness, up to a fifth of infected men may have pain in the testes.
Six of the 34 men in China they studied complained of the symptom, the researchers reported in April.
The researchers said the significance remains unclear, noting that other viruses, such as mumps, HIV, and herpes, can cause inflammation in the testicles (orchitis).
Because the team did not look at semen during illness, they could not rule out that the coronavirus can spread during sex via semen.
Doctors from the San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium in Texas have previously warned the damage caused by Covid-19 could have 'a future impact on male fertility'.
They reported the virus had damaged the spermatocytes, which keep sperm healthy, of a 37-year-old man.
But no study has yet conclusively proven the virus can damage a man's reproductive organs, reduce fertility or sexual potency.
Scientists say it is theoretically possible because of how the SARS-CoV-2 virus enters cells — through a receptor called ACE2.
ACE2, which acts as a the doorway for the virus to enter cells in various parts of the body, is found in abundance in the testicles.
But there is no proof the coronavirus travels through the body and replicates in the testes.
Another explanation for testicular pain in Covid-19 males is that the coronavirus travels in the bloodstream to reach the testes.
But this is 'not generally' what coronaviruses does, according to virology professor Ian Jones at the University of Reading.
Comments
Post a Comment