Kissing spines: an underdiagnosed cause of low back pain

Excerpt

A 49-year-old woman was seen in her family physician’s office for chronic ongoing midline lower back pain, worse with extension, which was aggravated by recent heavy lifting. The patient’s past medical history was unremarkable, and she denied any history of intravenous drug use, constitutional symptoms, or trauma. The patient’s physical examination demonstrated a normal range of motion, with pain on extension and mild midline tenderness at L2–L3 on palpation. Radiographs of the lumbar spine were performed (Fig. 1), demonstrating early changes of Baastrup’s syndrome with close approximation and enlargement of the spinous processes with associated sclerosis from L2 to L5.

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