Do viral infections cause back pain?
Viral infection seems to be becoming more and more frequent and can sometimes be the cause of severe back pain. Many people, instead of catching a cold in the normal way, have a slight snuffle and then start to suffer pain in their backs. Often, they will show no obvious signs of a virus; usually they feel very tired or unwell and generally run down. A viral infection gets into the bloodstream and travels all over the body. It settles in a muscle by entering the individual muscle fibres and multiplying in them. This causes inflammation of the muscle and can lead to pain. A virus can attack the muscles in a normal back and be severe enough to immobilise the patient. People with bad backs, however, have an increased blood supply to the inflamed area and, as the infection is carried in the blood, the back receives a disproportionate amount of the infection. Once the infection has gone, then the back pain disappears and the back is usually left with no after-effects. Similarly, the increas
