Other rare causes of kidney pain

Kidney trauma as the cause: Kidney trauma can occur in any injury to the abdomen, for example, from blows, falls, knife wounds or in traffic accidents. The kidney pain is caused by the involvement of the kidneys. Kidney cancer as cause: Kidney cancer occurs sporadically, but there are also inherited forms.

Solvents (trichloroethylene) can also cause kidney cancer. Risk factors for cancer development include obesity, nicotine and poor nutrition (high-fat). Stenosis as a cause: A narrowing and thus an obstruction to drainage can occur at any point in the draining urinary tract.

Causes can be, for example, congenital changes (including ureteral valves), stones, cancer or neurological diseases. The obstructed urine flow causes the urine to back up, increasing the risk of kidney infection and/or creating a so-called urinary stasis kidney. This also leads to an enlargement of the kidneys.

If the kidneys are affected, kidney pain develops. Kidney infarction as cause: A kidney infarction is a vascular occlusion of the kidney vessels due to a blood clot (thrombosis, embolism) at the bottom of vascular changes (for example arteriosclerosis). As a result of the occlusion, the blood supply to the renal tissue is interrupted and dies (necrosis).

Other causes: A distinction must be made between kidney pain and pain that is also felt in the flank (flank pain), but does not affect the kidneys. These include muscular pain, sensations of pain in the spine (for example, a herniated disc in the thoracic spine), shingles (herpes zoster) and diseases of other abdominal organs or gynecological diseases. Although these sensations are projected into the kidney area, they are not strictly speaking kidney pain per se, as the kidneys are not the structures that cause the pain.

Can stress be a cause of kidney pain?

Kidney pain can have numerous causes. Stress is actually not one of them. Often, however, pain in the kidney area does not originate from the kidney itself but from the back or the muscles, for example. Back pain or pain caused by muscular tensions can very well be caused by stress.