What do kidney stones feel like?

You will likely know if you have a kidney stone. The stones are solid lumps, often with a high calcium content (think limescale clumps). They cause no problems when small or sitting in the kidney. But they cause excruciating pain if they get stuck moving from one of your kidneys, down a tube called the ureter, to your bladder.

Most people describe the pain as sharp or cramping waves, causing them to double over until the spasm passes after a few seconds or minutes. This is when your ureter is blocked, but this muscular tube is trying to force the stone down by squeezing.

You'll feel this from one side of your lower back, round to the front lower part of the abdomen. It sometimes radiates to the vagina, testicle, or tip of the penis. This is called loin-to-groin pain.

Stones then have to move from the bladder via another tube, the urethra, and out in your urine. This may correspond to more painful spasms as the urethra contracts.