What Causes Chronic Pain In Back, Hip And Legs Along With Exhaustion?

Posted on Tue, 10 Feb 2015

Question: Yes, thank you! I am a 53 year old female 130lbs and have always been active. Lately I have chronic back, hip and leg pain that is limiting my exercise abilities. I also am finding that I bruise easily and that my skin is very thin. I scratched a spot on my hand one afternoon and the next morning had a red scabbed sore at the site. I have been extremely tired and achey for the last couple of months. I have an appointment with a spine doctor this Friday...but have a concern that it may be something other that is exacerbating the lower back pain.
THoughts?

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (34 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Spine disc problem seems the most probable reason.

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Thank you for the query.

Its really hard to tell what else can it be not being able to perform basic blood tests.
Easy bruising can be caused by some blood coagulation problem. It may be present with low hemoglobin level or other blood ingredients problem. Low hemoglobin level can be also the reason of weakness and tiredness.
Back pain with hip pan and leg pain is very characteristic for spine disc problem. This seems the most probable reason. However sometimes spine pain can be a sign of other disease including bone metastases of some cancer (like breast or kidney).

Spine doctor consult is a good idea. However if you are able to have blood work done before this visit, it would be good. Tests like CBC (complete blood count), INR, APTT, CRP, calcium level, AST, ALT, GGTP, bilirubin, AP, creatinine, urine analysis should be done. For spine diagnostics MRI will be ordered for sure.

Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj