Lumbar spine or lower back is prone to pain caused by trauma, herniated or ruptured disc, pinched nerve, tumor, spinal stenosis, Intervertebral disc degeneration, spondylolisthesis and congenital abnormalities. All these and more are some of the lumbar spine issues that the top back pain doctor nyc treats on a regular basis. It’s extremely imperative to have your lower back pain examined closely by a well-trained and well-versed back doctor.
No matter where you live in the U.S, there is a reliable pain management doctor near you who can tackle your lumbar pain problem. Additionally, you can travel to another state to find advanced treatments for your lower back. For instance, back pain doctor manhattan is renowned and picked by numerous people. So, if no doctor has been able to locate the exact cause of your lumbar spine pain, you can find a solution in NJ area. To be more specific, you can look for a well-known doctor called Dr. Michael Nguyen, MD. Based in both NY and NJ, Dr. Nguyen is a highly knowledgeable expert with proper education, several awards and a good reputation.
In this article, we will only focus on one cause of low back pain. This is a herniated disc that affects the lower back area. So, read on to discover more about it.
What is a herniated disc?
A herniated disc is also referred to as a herniated lumbar disc, ruptured lumbar disc, slipped lumbar disc or herniated lumbar intervertebral disc. This disc condition develops when a disc’s jelly-like nucleus starts to push against its outer ring, causing the fluid to leak out through a tear in the rough outer wall. This can also happen to a disc in your upper spine and in such a case, it would be called a herniated cervical disc. A painful lumbar spine should be examined by a specialist who provides back pain doctor manhattan to see if there is a ruptured disc. When more stress is placed on your lower spine, a herniated lumbar disc is likely to happen.
In fact, studies show that slipped lumbar discs are fifteen times more rampant than herniated cervical discs. That’s why any pain of the lower back and legs that keeps on coming back should be examined closely by the best back pain doctor nyc or another state. Note also that people who are between thirty to fifty years are prone to disc herniation in the lower back because of the excessive strain they place on their spine when working.
Males are more susceptible to low back pain because of the types of jobs they do, including lifting and pulling heavy loads. Thus, if you are a male and you feel pain in your lower back, start your low back treatment as soon as you can. Also, note that disc herniation can happen for no particular reason. Hence, you can have a bulging or a herniated disc even when you have never suffered from a back injury before. So, don’t worry about having this problem prior to getting diagnosed with it. The only sure way is to seek back pain doctor manhattan. The main triggers include:
- Trauma or injury
- Unsafe and improper lifting or lifting bulkier loads than your back can allow.
- Being obese. Carrying excessive body weight can make your lower spine hurt.
- Old age. Spinal discs lose their water content and harden due to aging. And when their outer walls toughen up, they weaken and become prone to tears. Due to these tears, discs can no longer have their gel-like nucleus inside. In any case, dry discs will begin to shrink in size, causing the spaces between the vertebrae get narrower. Disk degeneration is a back problem that doctors who offer back pain doctor manhattan face all the times. So, have your bad back checked today.
- Repeated movements of the lower back can make your disc deteriorate, leading to pain.
- Genetics affect some people who have lower back pain. Perhaps there are people in your lineage who had congenital deformities of the lower back that made them prone to pain in that area. If that’s the case, your lumbar pain could be inherited. The only way to know is to speak to a doctor who provides back pain doctor manhattan.
- A dormant lifestyle can lead to herniated discs in your lumbar spine area. So, if you are a sedentary type of person, it could be the reason why you have pain from a herniated disc in your lower back.
- Smoking is a lifestyle choice for most people. However, there is proof that smoking minimizes the oxygen supply to the discs in the spine. Due to this, the discs start to degenerate more speedily.
- Driving every day – Vibrations from the car engine plus constantly being seated can strain your lower back discs and cause a lot of pain.
As well as all the above factors, pain in the lower back due to ruptured discs can be caused by sports and other strenuous activities. They are known to exert excessive pressure on your spine and this is what causes an early disc degeneration process. As well as arduous exercises, lifting things without bending at your knees or making the mistake of twisting your back suddenly while lifting a heavy object can lead to disc herniation.
How does herniation occur?
Prior to seeking a low back therapy, it is important to understand how herniation occurs. A disc will begin to herniate when its jelly-like nucleus pushes against its outer ring after a sudden injury or natural wear and tear. The jelly-like core of a disc can push through the outer ring and cause pain that only the leading back pain doctor nyc can handle. And as soon as the nucleus ruptures or herniates via the outer ring, pain might become more bearable than before the completion of the disc herniation process. While the disc might stop hurting, the pain might radiate to your lower extremities. This is called sciatica pain and it affects your sciatic nerve. The key reason why this happens is because jelly-like substances that leaks through a tear in the outer ring inflames your spinal nerves. As well as causing sciatica pain, a herniated disc can trigger numbness and weakness in one leg or two legs.
Signs that you should seek a doctor who provides back pain doctor manhattan
Like any other disease or health condition, a herniation in the lower back produces symptoms that a doctor who gives back pain doctor manhattan should know about. That is mostly when there is leakage and the material being leaked out from a ruptured disc comes into contact with a nerve and compresses it. As soon as this happens, you will experience signs that will help you know that you have a lower back problem to solve. These symptoms include the following:
- Lumbar spine ache that keeps going down to one or both legs (including feet, sometimes).
- Tingling and/or numbness in any part of the body served by the compressed nerve. This is usually your lower extremities.
- Pain that gets worse when your bend, lift, twist, sit down or stand up.
- Electric shock sensations that tend to be severe when you are walking, standing or sitting down.
- Muscle spasms in your lower back and/ legs that feel like cramping.
- General weakness in all the muscles that get supplied by the pinched nerve. As a result, you can trip when walking.
- Reflex can be lost in your ankles or knees.
When your situation is extremely severe, you can experience more symptoms and must seek the help of a back pain doctor nyc. First, your foot can drop involuntarily when trying to walk as well as feel extremely weak that you are unable to work normally. Next, you could lose your bladder or bowel control and that can be embarrassing. Paralysis, numbness in your legs and rectum and sexual dysfunction can occur when your disc herniation problem has been neglected for too long. As a result, you should call the most reputable back pain doctor nyc and tell him or her about your symptoms. If they look like those shown above, your doctor will definitely want you to go see him or her in their office. But, if you wait until the time when severe symptoms of a herniated disc appear, your low back treatment option will most likely be surgery.
Diagnosis and Tests at the office of your back pain doctor nyc
The first step a back pain doctor nyc will do is to ask about your medical history. Mostly, his or her questions will be about your back. In particular, they will ask you to recall one time in your past that you suffered a spinal injury that put your spine under stress and pain. If you have ever had spinal X-rays or another test, talk about them during an appointment with the provider of back pain doctor manhattan or New York. After learning everything about your medical history, the specialist will carry out a physical exam where he or she will test your reflexes, muscle strength, joints’ range of motion, capacity to walk and sensitivity to the touch.
If any of these problems are found, then your low back doctor will perform X-rays. If these don’t reveal any problem, then the back pain doctor nyc will use other imaging tests to see the current state of your lumbar spine discs and nerves. These are CT scans, MRI scans, Myelogram, discogram and electromyography. These are known to show the back pain doctor nyc herniated discs and other problems affecting your soft tissues.
How the low back treatment is like
As soon as your specialist for back pain doctor manhattan discovers that you have one or more herniated dics of the lumbar spine, he or she will determine the right way to treat you. The best low back treatment due to disc herniation often includes a combination of tricks. These include the following:
- Bed rest – While bed rest can worsen back pain, it can be prescribed when you have pain from a herniated disc. However, your rest will take no more than two days.
- OTC NSAIDS – Over-the-counter pain killers that are known as NSAIDs can be taken to reduce inflammation and pain. Examples include ibuprofen, celecoxib, naproxen and aspirin.
- Narcotics drugs – These drugs are designed for pain relief and a good example is codeine.
- Medicines for nerve pain – These are provided when someone has damaged nerves.
- Oral steroids – These are provided to reduce nerves swelling and inflammation.
- Spinal injections – These are steroid injections, anti-inflammatory injections and anesthetics injections that are generally administered by the best back pain doctor nyc to reduce swelling and discomfort around your affected spinal nerve roots.
- Spinal injections involving steroids to reduce pain and inflammation
- Muscle relaxants when muscle spasms are present.
- Physical therapy – It entails ultrasound, temporary bracing, ice and heat compression packs, traction and electrotherapy.
If the above-mentioned tricks don’t eliminate your lumbar spine pain in a span of six weeks, then your back pain doctor manhattan specialist will have to find another way help you. The combination therapy mentioned above tends to help about eighty percent of victims of lower back pain in just six weeks. Nevertheless, when this combination therapy fails to end the pain, the back pain doctor manhattan clinics usually lack another alternative that is better than surgery. The herniated section of your disc can be removed via surgery.
Even so, this partial surgical technique does not apply to all patients who have had consistent pain even after 6 weeks of being treated without surgery. Those who cannot benefit from the partial surgical removal of the affected disc portions have to endure a complete surgical removal of the disc. The area once occupied by the disc can then be filled up with an artificial disc. Your back pain doctor nyc will be able to discuss these surgery options with you before performing any of them.
Can back pain in your lumbar spine be prevented?
The answer to this question is a resounding yes. There are ways you can use to can avoid a low back treatment in future. First, watch videos online on how you should be lifting objects from this point onward. Mostly, you should keep your back straight by bending your knees. If you stand, sit down or move for several hours, then it will not hurt to improve your posture. Your back pain doctor manhattan can include posture training, where you will be taught how to sit, stand, walk and sleep appropriately and safely.
It goes without saying that your abdominal muscles weaken after giving birth or due to poor posture. So you need to start exercising to strengthen your tummy muscles and keep away from herniated discs of the lower back. As well as this, your back pain doctor nyc could teach you how you can eat well to have a healthy spinal cord and ask you to quit smoking to keep your discs’ oxygen supply normal. After doing all the above, you might stay longer without ever suffering from lower back pain due to a herniated disc.