Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Presenting as Low Back Pain: A Case Report

Low back pain (LBP) is the most common chief complaint among patients in chiropractic offices, second to neck pain. Of those seeking professional care, 70% of patients will go to a primary care medical physician or a chiropractor. Even though most LBP is mechanical in origin, underlying pathology is a possibility. In rare cases, patients presenting with a chief complaint of LBP may have pain as a result of a more serious spinal pathology or condition requiring surgical or medical intervention. Due to the higher risk of ominous pathologies in the elderly, careful consideration must be given to life-threatening differentials. Souza suggests differentials that clinicians should rule out when investigating LBP cases. The differentials include but are not limited to: disc lesion, facet syndrome, canal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, sacroiliac sprain, piriformis syndrome, ankylosing spondylitis, Reiter’s syndrome, multiple myeloma, metastatic carcinoma, and abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). This report focuses on AAA.