Treatment
The treatment of a bump on the back is highly dependent on the cause of the bump. Bruises and bruises usually disappear by themselves after a few days to weeks. In the case of oedema, the underlying disease must be treated.
Severe water retention can be flushed out for a short time with diuretics (“water tablets”). Abscesses and inflamed sebaceous gland congestion can initially be treated with antibiotics. If an abscess does not disappear despite antibiotic therapy, it can also be removed surgically.
The benign soft tissue tumours do not need to be treated. However, if they are cosmetically disturbing or become so large that they cause functional limitations, they can be removed surgically. The rarely occurring malignant tumours must be removed as quickly as possible. A generous strip around the suspicious tissue should also be cut out. Sometimes additional chemotherapy or radiation is necessary.
Associated symptoms
Depending on the cause of the bump on the back, various accompanying symptoms occur. If it is a bump due to bruising or haematomas (bruises), pain usually occurs, which disappears after a few days to weeks. Bumps due to water retention (oedema) are very rare on the back.
They occur in people with cardiovascular diseases when they lie down a lot. Normally, water is also stored in other parts of the body (legs, stomach, lungs). If clogged sebaceous glands and/or abscesses are the cause of the lump on the back, local inflammation usually occurs as accompanying symptoms.
These lead to swelling, redness and overheating of the affected area and often cause additional pain. The benign tumours are usually not accompanied by further complaints. In rare cases, when tissue growth is very pronounced, functional and movement restrictions may occur after a long period of time.
Malignant tissue tumours, on the other hand, are usually painful. If they are not detected early, they can spread to other parts of the body (often the liver and lungs) and cause pain there. Accompanying symptoms such as fever, severe unintentional weight loss and night sweats (so severe that pyjamas must be changed) are also suspect.
Bumps on the back usually cause very localized pain and are rarely spread over the entire back. The only injuries that cause bruising and/or bruising are often not limited to a single area of the back. Instead, they often result in reflex muscle tension.
These can lead to pain in different areas of the back. In women, the lumbar spine is often affected by this pain. In the shoulder area and at the level of the thoracic spine, it is not only the reflex muscle tension that plays a role, but usually also poor posture (regardless of the injury that causes the bump).