There is no way to know how long the pain will last because you have no diagnosis.

You need to be seen by your doctor, have x-rays done to start with and then maybe referred to a spine specialist.

Without any x-rays, MRI done, there is no way to answer your question.

Good luck

Fran

If your pain does not go away in about a month you should see your family doc and get some X-rays done. If your pain does get worse and is associated with difficulty in breathing
you should see him right away.

"Without any x-rays, MRI done, there is no way to answer your question"

Actually there is. Unfortunately the medical industry has become so obsessed with diagnostics such as X-rays and MRI's they have all but lost touch with how the human body works. You have to understand you are treating a PERSON, not a "disc" or a "rib"

Sorry AWAQ, but your statement is WRONG.

X-rays, MRI's are a tool used to diagnose a patient's medical problem whether it is a spine problem or anything else.

Without knowing if there is an underlying medical condition existing, knowing how the body works does no good.

A doctor can understand how the body works quite well, but without added tools such as x-rays, MRI's CT scans, used when needed, that understanding of how the body works is useless.

Depending on the circumstances and the patient's symptoms, further tests are needed for a proper diagnosis.

Nothing is medicine is cut and dried, but, you are trying to make it out to be such and stating blanket statements that mean nothing.

Fran

Bottom Line Health February 2009:
"Research has shown that the initial McKenzie assessment procedures can be as reliable as diagnostic imaging, such as X-rays, in determining the source of pain".

Sorry but I can't find the article that you note in your prior post.

McKenzine asseesment may be of help in diagnosis, and can an MRI or a CT scan or x-ray, but it is not the be all that ends all nor can it or will it ever replace a visual diagnostic test such as an MRI, CT, or x-ray.

Combining all of the available tools to diagnose spine problems is a very important thing.

A good spine specialist will use the available tools and testing to aid in a diagnosis, but never, ever use only one tool alone to make that diagnosis.

Fran

" but never, ever use only one tool alone to make that diagnosis. "
Including MRI.

"Combining all of the available tools to diagnose spine problems is a very important thing. "
Sure, why not use the tools available. But what are you going to do with those MRI results? Try physical therapy? Find a chiropractor? Take pain medication? But that's exactly what you'd do if you didn't get the MRI scan, so what's the point?
Even if there is no point, what's the harm? The harms is an MRI will show up something. Then you go on a long series of tests, office visits, diagnoses, and treatments that will culminate in surgery. And it may turn out that that something wasn't the culprit after all. It may turn out that the something was nothing at all.
A skilled clinician can find most problems that are the true cause of pain without an MRI. MRI's are a good sales pitch for surgery (which doesn't fix the cause of the problem anyhow so chances are the dysfunction will return).