M54.5 vs M54.8

M54.5 (Low back pain) compared with M54.8 (Other dorsalgia), from the official CMS tabular data. Do not report these codes together: the official tabular list marks them Excludes1.

Can these codes be reported together?

No — do not report together. M54.8 carries an Excludes1 note covering M54.5: “low back pain (M54.5-)”

Sole exception: when the two conditions are documented as unrelated to each other (ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines, Section I.A.12.a).

Side by side

	M54.5Low back pain	M54.8Other dorsalgia
Billing status	Non-billable header Report instead: M54.50, M54.51, M54.59	Non-billable header Report instead: M54.81, M54.89
Classification	M00-M99 — Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue (M00-M99)	M00-M99 — Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue (M00-M99)
Definition	Low back pain is a non-billable ICD-10-CM category code (M54.5).	Other dorsalgia is a non-billable ICD-10-CM category code (M54.8).

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Derived from the official CMS ICD-10-CM tabular data (FY2026). Not billing advice; verify sequencing rules for the encounter. All data sources