Did you know that low back pain affects several men and women across the world? It is one of the key causes of job disability. Treatment for low back pain is therefore the most popular back treatments offered by doctors. Also called lumbar spine, lower back area has five vertebrae or spinal bones. Each of these bones is divided by soft cushions of tissue–discs. These discs are shock absorbers placed between the vertebrae and consist of two parts: nucleus and annulus. The nucleus is a soft material that looks like gel while the annulus is a hard outer strip.
Our spinal canal consists of the spinal cord, which is a tunnel that passes through every vertebra. There are also spinal nerves that leave the spinal canal via the foramen–a gap between the vertebrae on either side of the spinal canal. If something is wrong with the vertebrae or nerves, pain will be felt in the lower back or another area of your spine. At this point, seeing your back pain doctor is the only way to know what’s causing your terrible ache.
About low back pain
This type of pain is felt in the lower most section of your spinal canal called the lumbar spine. It can happen due to a wide range of health issues or injuries. Without making an effort to locate suitable treatment for low back pain services, you cannot tell what exactly is triggering your discomfort. Known causes of lumbar spine pain include the following:
- Degenerative Disc Disease or DDD – This is a condition that makes the discs of your spine to flatten. DDD takes a long time to develop and it makes the vertebrae to come closer together and start to get in contact. There are nerve roots between the vertebrae that tend to get pinched when pressure is exerted, causing pain, weakness, and/or numbness in legs. It is imperative to have your back examined by a qualified pain management expert so as to know whether you have DDD.
- Bulging disc –Back pain and leg pain can develop when there is a bulging disc. The pressure from this disc can be placed on the spinal canal or nerve roots, resulting to pain. A back pain doctor can check if you have a bulging disc and asses the damage it has caused so far.
- Herniated disc – This happens when the nucleus raptures through the annulus or when the annulus develops a tear. This forces the nucleus to get out of its rightful position. As there is restricted space between the spinal bones, the herniated disc adds pressure to the spinal cord or nerve roots. This can arouse pain in legs and lumbar spine area.
- Degenerative joint disease or DJD – This type of illness can affect any body component and is a process through which the protecting layer that encloses our bones deteriorates in due course. As a result, bones begin to rub against each other and the friction thereof triggers a lot of pain. To discover if you have DJD in your lower back, go to the best treatment for low back pain providers.
- Spinal stenosis – This refers to a situation where the spinal canal and/or the intervertebral foramina begin to constrict. Spinal stenosis, according to the top back pain doctor, can be due to thickened ligaments and excess bone that narrow the gap around the spinal nerves and spinal cord. As a result, a lot of pressure is exerted on the spinal cord or nerves and the effect is pain in the lower back and legs. As well as this, there may be sensations such as burning, tingling, numbness and pain.
- Osteoporosis –This is a serious disease that is known to attack bones and might develop in your spinal bones too. It causes the affected bones to become thin, weak and brittle. Osteoporosis is linked to genetics, some medicines, aging, diet and being dormant. It is one of those diseases that treatment for low back pain clinics treats the most.
- Sciatica –This is one of the commonest nerve issues affecting the lower back area. It is a problem that requires proper examination by a reputable backache doctor in your area. Sciatica is the inflammation of the sciatic nerve. This is a big nerve that leaves the spine in your lumbar spine part. Sciatic nerve regulates the muscles in the back of your thigh and beneath the knee.
- Strain –If the soft tissues of your lower back strain due to a sudden wrong body movement, you are likely to feel sudden pain. Unless it’s extremely serious, pain due to a strained muscle, ligament or tendon can go away in a few days.
- Abnormal Spine Curvatures – Any pain management expert will want to know if your backache is caused by abnormal spine curvatures. These include lordosis, scoliosis and kyphosis. These cause the spine to curve in an abnormal manner and are first noticed when the affected person is a teenager or a child. This problem results to pressure being exerted on the tendons, spinal bones, muscles and ligaments and the end result is pain.
- Other situations – Several other conditions may cause pain in your low back and can best be examined during a treatment for low back pain session. These include long-lived pain and tenderness that is felt in your joints, tendons and muscles (fibromyalgia), arthritis and spondylitis–the inflammation of joints that are between your vertebrae. Spondylosis is a condition that refers to a degenerative disorder that might eventually lead to the loss of normal spinal function or spinal structure. While it is caused by aging, spondylosis can degenerate any area of the spine at any given rate.
It is also known that females’ reproductive issues such as uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, pregnancy and menstrual periods can trigger low back pain. Lower back pain doctor might as well locate a spinal tumor that has spread from another area of your body with ongoing cancer. Kidney and bladder issues are also a source of lumbar spine pain and it’s only a high qualified pain management expert like Dr. Juan Montaya, who can help.
How a back pain doctor can rehabilitate you
The first step is to pre-plan a visit to the preferred clinic. Your treatment for low back pain specialist will conduct a physical exam to determine the exact point where you feel hurt. They will also want to find out whether the ache is causing stiffness or affecting the range of motion. Moreover, the doctor will assess your reflexes and the response towards a particular sensation. Unless he or she discovers that you have severe symptoms, they will only monitor your condition for a number of weeks prior to recommending special testing.
That’s simply because most lumbar spine pain can be solved with easy self-care therapies. If your pain management specialist discovers that you have fever, weight loss, loss of bowel control and general body weakness, they will send you to the laboratory for extra testing. Imaging exams like the CT-scans, X-rays, MRIs and ultrasounds can be requested if your back specialist thinks that you have issues with your spinal bones, discs and soft tissues. A specific bone scan test or bone density test can be done when your treatment for low back pain doctor suspects that you have osteoporosis or another disease that destroys bones. Nerve conduction tests as well as an EMG (Electromyography) test can be done too, when a doctor wants to find out whether your backache is due to a nerve problem.
Treatment for low back pain options
After enduring all the lumbar spine tests, your back pain doctor will begin your treatment process. The first option will mainly be pain killers such as acetaminophen, and ibuprofen. These can be prescribed or bought from a drug store near you. Medicines such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs, muscle relaxants, narcotic drugs, steroids and corticosteroid injections can be provided. Your healthcare expert will prescribe medicines based on the severity of your pain and what’s causing it. If you have arthritis or another condition that can cause your bones and joints to deteriorate, your back doctor might provide NSAIDs and steroids to reduce inflammation and pain.
Besides medical therapy, a good treatment for low back pain physician will recommend physical therapy techniques like exercises, massage, and chiropractic spinal manipulation and so on. He or she will not only suggest, but also give you tips on how to select the right physical therapist. This physical therapist might ask you about your medical background and whether or not you have suffered a back injury recently. Then, he or she will assess the range of motion of your back, the strength of your lower back muscles and belly, any walking difficulties and the strength of your legs.
Repeated joint motions will also be assessed to find out the ones that makes your pain worse. After gathering all the information, your physical therapist will create an exercise plan that is best for you. Further, they will demonstrate every workout in front of you so as to teach you how to perform it safely and successfully. When low back issues continue even after the use of home self-care tips, medicines and exercise, the provider of treatment for low back pain might suggest surgery.
Surgical procedures for spine are only recommended when the case being handled is too complicated. It is also picked in an emergency situation such as when a patient has lost their bladder or bowel control or has developed a continuous neurological loss. One of the surgical procedures done is called discectomy, and it normally relieves pressure from a nerve root that is pressed on by a bulging disc or a bone spur. A tiny piece of a bony part of the spinal canal called lamina is removed via discectomy surgery. Intradiscal electrothermal therapy or IDET is done by inserting a needle via a catheter into the disc and then heating it up for twenty minutes.
This causes the disc wall to thicken and reduces the bulging of the inner discs and the extent of irritation of the nerve. A nucleoplasty surgery is usually conducted by an expert a pain management doctor and seeks to remove the inner disc material. Foraminotomy is a surgery that is done to open the foramen (the space where a nerve root exits the spinal canal). There is also a less invasive procedure for interrupting the system through which the nerves communicate with each other and it is called radiofrequency ablation or radiofrequency lesioning.
It uses radio waves energy and a special kind of needle that is placed into the nerves to cause heating and the destruction of aching nerves. Another treatment for low back pain approach is called spinal fusion and it entails the removal of discs between the vertebrae. These vertebrae are then fused near each other using bone grafts or certain metal screws.
Finally, your back pain doctor might perform a procedure called spinal laminectomy or spinal decompression. It leads to the removal of the lamina to enlarge the spinal canal and after this, the pressure that was on the nerves and spinal cord is reduced. As surgery is usually the last remedy, it would be advisable to select the most appropriate spinal surgeon, including Dr. Juan Montaya. This will be a dependable way to ensure that you get to recover completely.