Back pain: the sole of presentation of sickle cell disease

Diagnosing back pain in children and adolescents can be a challenge to health care providers. Although studies show that more than half of the cases of back pain in children are of non-organic cause, missing the right diagnosis could be detrimental. We present a case of lower back pain in a ten-year-old male whom we eventually diagnosed with hemoglobin SE mutation, which responded well to pain management. Hence, sickle cell disease with vaso-occlusive crisis should be incorporated into the list of differential diagnoses in children with back pain.