Restless Back Syndrome: A Case Report and Literature Review

Abstract

Restless back syndrome is characterized by uncomfortable pain, burning, ant crawling, or itching sensations in the back. Restless back syndrome is regarded as a back variant of restless legs syndrome. The lack of specific diagnostic criteria makes it difficult to recognize the restless back syndrome, which is usually neglected in clinical practice. Moreover, when a patient was diagnosed with restless back syndrome, the adjustment of medications was the first choice for doctors, which may make the patient’s condition unstable. To describe the restless back syndrome and collect and review the related lecture, and the possible mechanism of restless back syndrome was analyzed. A 50-year-old man was diagnosed with schizophrenia 15 years ago. Starting with 25 mg/day aripiprazole, which was switched to amisulpride 0.6 g/day due to no effectiveness, the patient reported symptoms of restless back syndrome in the 2 weeks since the treatment with 0.6 g/day of amisulpride. With the reduction of amisulpride adjustment, restless back syndrome spontaneously remitted. The central dopaminergic dysfunction may play an important role in the development of restless back syndrome. This case suggests that psychiatrists should pay attention to restless back syndrome when using antipsychotics. Moreover, when a patient manifests restless back syndrome, observation or decreasing medication may be one choice.