My son, 8 years old, is always complaining of back pain. The doctor can’t find anything wrong with him and I think he’s using it as an excuse to get out of things. How can I tell if this is true?

It used to be thought that children couldn’t have lower back pain without there being a serious problem causing it. Adults, on the other hand, often know what it’s like to have a sore back and not know what exactly they did to make it hurt.

Over the years, we have learned that children can have non-specific lower back pain – pain that isn’t caused by a specific problem. The diagnosis of non-specific lower back pain is considered a diagnosis of exclusion, one that the doctor comes to when the testing doesn’t turn up something specific. One thing to remember is just because the doctor can’t find a specific cause, doesn’t mean that your son isn’t having back pain.

Some things to watch out for are your son’s activity level, what does he do and what is his posture like when he does it? Is your son a good weight? Is he depressed or anxious? Is he having any other problems besides back pain? Researches have found that children who are having problems, such as depression, do tend to have more back pain than other children.