Could chronic lower back pain mean fibromyalgia?

I have constant lower back pain that my doctor thinks is more severe than it should be. Could I have fibromyalgia?

If your pain is only in one place, you likely won't fit the diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia. Those criteria include:

• Pain in all four quadrants of the body and in the axial skeleton (bones of the head, throat, chest and spine) that's been present on a more-or-less continuous basis for at least three months.
• Pain in at least 11 of 18 tender points, which are specific spots on the body that hurt when pressure is applied.

However, if you also have widespread body pain, your back symptoms could be related to fibromyalgia. In either case, constant back pain warrants a medical evaluation.

_Sources:

_{American College of Rheumatology, 2007. "1990 Criteria for the Classification of Fibromyalgia"}