kidney and urinary tract disorders
Flank Pain
Causes of Flank Pain
A Stones in the Urinary Tract causes excruciating pain when it enters a ureter. The ureter contracts in response to the stone, causing severe, crampy pain (renal or ureteral colic) in the flank or lower back that often extends to the groin or, in men, to a testis. The pain typically comes in waves. A wave may last 20 to 60 minutes and then stop. The pain stops without resuming again when the ureter relaxes or the stone passes into the bladder. A kidney infection ( Kidney Infection ) causes swelling of the kidney tissue, which stretches the renal capsule, causing steady, aching pain. Other disorders that cause pain in the flank include sudden blockage of blood flow to a kidney or the intestine, ruptured and occasionally unruptured Abdominal Aortic Branch Occlusion , problems with the spine or spinal nerves, musculoskeletal injuries, and tumors that involve the back of the abdomen (retroperitoneum). 