8. Persistent Lower Back Pain: The Unlikely Culprit
When we think of back pain, our minds often jump to poor posture or muscle strain, but what if there’s a darker narrative lurking behind this commonplace discomfort? It might be difficult to believe, but persistent lower back pain could be an unexpected chapter in the story of a sessile serrated lesion (SSL).
In the realm of medical science, it’s known that the body works as an interconnected machine, with organs and tissues affecting each other in unpredictable ways. In cases of SSL, inflammation may cause irritation of the lumbar nerves, those that originate from the lower part of the spinal cord. It’s an insidious way that a gut issue could manifest as a musculoskeletal complaint.
There’s a term in medicine called “referred pain,” and it’s akin to a body’s version of a misleading clue in a mystery novel. The pain is felt in an area distant from the actual source of the problem. While it’s more commonly known for heart attacks manifesting as arm pain, SSL can similarly give rise to referred pain in the lower back.(8)
