What might be causing my back pain?
Back pain is most often due to damaged bones, connective tissues, muscles, nerves, or cartilage in your spine. Poor posture, overexertion, and lifting, pushing, or pulling objects using incorrect techniques are all easy ways to hurt your back.
Conditions that commonly cause severe or chronic back pain include:
- Herniated discs
- Spinal stenosis
- Degenerative disc disease
- Sciatica
- Spondylolisthesis
- Vertebral compression fractures
- Facet joint arthritis
- Scoliosis
Many of these conditions develop over time as a result of wear. For instance, your discs might get weaker, dry out, or flatten, your spinal column might change shape, or your vertebrae may shift slightly. These changes can compress or pinch nearby nerves, leading to back pain.
How is back pain diagnosed?
Our providers can typically determine the cause of your back pain from your symptoms. They conduct a physical examination to assess your pain levels, flexibility, and range of motion.
If our providers need to confirm the cause of your back pain, they might order an X-ray, MRI, or bone scan.
Tests don't always identify the cause of back pain, but even if you don't have a definitive diagnosis our providers can still treat you successfully in most cases.
How is back pain treated?
The treatment our providers recommend depends on the type of back pain you have. Some common treatment options include physical therapy, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), acupuncture, trigger point injections, regenerative medicine injections, and anti-inflammatory medications.
Pinnacle Pain and Spine also offers a range of injectable treatments for back pain, including:
- Selective nerve root blocks
- Lumbar epidural steroid injections
- Facet joint injections
- Lumbar sympathetic blocks
- Thoracic and lumbar medial branch blocks
If these treatments aren't working or are unsuitable for your condition, our providers can perform several minimally invasive procedures.
What minimally invasive procedures treat back pain?
Minimally invasive procedures our providers use to treat back pain include:
Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty
These treatments involve an injection of special cement to stabilize bones affected by vertebral compression fractures. Kyphoplasty also helps raise the height of the vertebrae.
Radiofrequency ablation
Using heat generated by radiofrequency energy, our providers destroy the pain nerves in your spine so they can't send signals to your brain.
Spinal cord stimulation
A spinal cord stimulator is an implantable device that sends out electrical impulses to interfere with messages going from your spine to your brain.
If you're affected by severe or persistent back pain, call Pinnacle Pain and Spine or book an appointment online today for effective pain relief.
