Can bursitis feel like lower back pain? Does being overweight cause it?

My lower back has been hurting for about 4 months. I've gone to a chiropractor at my gym for help. Recently I experienced intense pain travelling down my right leg while I was on vacation so I went to the doctor in another country. He took xrays and said that one of my discs was touching another one (possible herniated disc) but when I came to America my regular doctor said that it may be bursitis and has scheduled me for an MRI and gave me muscle relaxers and steriods. I'm confused since the pain seemed to originate in my lower back and am wondering if being overweight brought this on to me. Any doctors or people out there who know what I'm talking about? Advice please.

You have not written your age, sex and occupation. All these are important for guessing an on-line diagnosis. Anyway, bursae are fluid filled small structures around our joints and bones which protect them. They function as ball-bearings or lubricants, facilitating joint movements. We have about a hundred bursae in our body. If frequent repetitive certain movements or exercises are done, these structures will be inflamed and more fluid accumulates in them. This is called bursitis. A lower back pain can be due to trochantric or ischial bursitis. Usually people who sit for a long time on a hard wooden chair develop ischial bursitis. The differential between discal problems and bursitis and other causes of low back pain can be done by a complete physical examination by an orthopedic surgeon and with imaging techniques like MRI or ultrasound. A good clinical test that you can do at home is to ask someone else to raise your leg slowly while you are lying down on your back and your knee is straight. He or she should look at the angle between your leg and horizon. If you have pain while he elevates your leg before 30 degrees, it can be a discal hernia. If the diagnosis is bursitis you should avoid repetitive motions of that area and you can take pain-killers and anti-inflammatory medications (if not contraindicated for you).

Bursitis of the low back? Not likely. Bursae are little fluid filled sacs that protect tendons from boney prominences...usually around the periperhal joints...shoulder, hip, knee. Bursitis of the hip can certainly cause pain to radiate down your leg, but will not cause back pain. Back pain that radiates to the legs is much more likely to be related to pathology of the disc (bulging, herniation) or osteophyte formation (boney development) around the neural foraemen.

Did your US doctor schedule the MRI of the hip or low back...my guess would be the low back...so, you are on the right track anyway.

I hope you get the answers you need.

Good luck for a speedy recovery.

The pain running down your leg sounds like the pain I'm having. Does it originate from your buttock down the back of your leg? If it does this is called Sciatica and it's nerve pain and is caused by back problems usually discs. Weight can be a factor yes but if your doctor said that one disc is sitting atop another then even weight loss will not resolve this alone. I would see another doctor and forget the chiroprator, see a Pain specialist or ask to go to physical therapy first that's usually the first order of business. From the PT (physical therapist) you go see the Pain Specialist and from there....see me at my email. I'm going through the same thing.

Yeah weight could play a role in the pain.I once had bursitis in my shoulder.

I've had back pain for years and was finally diagnosed with bursitis of the hip last year. Did my hip hurt or did my back hurt? Well, I guess they both did, but I only realized how much my hip actually hurt after I received an intrabursal injection and I was able to walk without pain! (My hip definitely got worse after I gained weight - the heavier you are, the more pressure you put on your joints. )

If you have a herniated disc, the MRI will should be diagnostic and the doc will know how to treat you properly afterward. If it's degenerative disc disease...welcome to getting older...and please be cautious about proper use of the muscle relaxers.