Back Pain – SPIN

You’re certainly not alone if you’ve struggled at some point in your life with pain in your back. It’s one of the most common reasons Americans visit pain management doctors. Pain in the back is the number one cause of disability too. The source of the discomfort may vary, but everyone wants to know how to relieve back pain. And even though the severity you experience may range from a dull ache to a stabbing sting, relief is at the forefront of your mind when it’s happening.

Common Back Injuries & Back Problems

The main reasons why people suffer from back pain include:

Muscle strains
Fractures
Herniated or ruptured disks
Muscle spasms
Narrowing of the spinal canal
Spondylolisthesis
Osteoarthritis
Bone spurs
Pregnancy
Degenerative disc disease
Congenital changes to the spine
Hormonal changes
Weight gain

There are also cases where the back can be sore without any apparent reason. This is what is known as nonspecific backache, typically caused by weak muscles which can’t handle daily walking, bending, and stretching.

What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Back Pain?

Back pain often begins with just a small hint of pain that may develop into more acute symptoms. Very often, home remedies — such as rest and ice application — help your small back discomforts heal, but you need to know when you should visit a surgeon for evaluation and treatment before you end up being one of the thousands receiving chronic back pain treatment.Early warning signs from doctors may include:

Throbbing muscle ache
Muscle spasms
Shooting pain that sometimes goes all the way down one leg
Inability to move effectively
Sudden stabbing pain

On the other hand, back pain treatment may fall under emergency care when symptoms are severe and immediate, such as:

Weakness in your leg that worsens with time and includes a growing lack of bowel control
Low back pain accompanied by a stomachache
Back pain with fever
Weight loss with what feels like a pinched nerve
Loss of motor function after an accident

Symptoms in your back can be very painful. Visit our specialists for the best-in-class treatment options. Emergency appointments are available at the Midtown Manhattan doctor’s office.

Are There Different Types of Back Pain?

Back pain can be classified into three types:

Mechanical pain that is limited to a single area. It can be described in a variety of ways, including acute or dull, coming and going, persistent, or pulsating
Referred pain is defined as dull and achy, moves around, and varies in severity
Radicular pain is a type of pain traveling along the route of the spinal nerve and is usually characterized as electric shock-like or burning

In addition, your pain may be classified into three types based on its duration, such as:

Acute back pain occurs suddenly and lasts for a few days to a few weeks
Subacute back pain can strike abruptly or gradually and continue for 4 to 12 weeks
Chronic back pain can develop fast or gradually and linger for more than 12 weeks

What Are the Risk Factors for Back Pain?

Back pain is more likely if you have the following risk factors:

Fitness level: People who are not physically fit are more likely to suffer from back pain. Weak back and stomach muscles often fail to effectively support the spine. Additionally, you are at higher risk of pain in the back if you exercise too vigorously after a period of inactivity.
Excess weight: A high-calorie, high-fat diet mixed with a sedentary lifestyle might lead to your gaining some unnecessary weight, which would place additional strain on your back.
Age: Back problems are more frequent as one gets older, especially as one gets past the age of 45.
Genetics: Heredity can make you more susceptible to various back problems.
Bad habits: Repeating the same type of motion, pushing, pulling, or lifting items without care, or failing to maintain good posture, such as when sitting incorrectly at a desk or behind a steering wheel, can all lead to painful back problems.

Some other risk factors for pain in the back include certain diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, a tendency toward anxiety or depression, and smoking.

How is Back Pain Diagnosis Made?

Your doctor will first do a physical exam, test your range of motion and ask you different questions about your symptoms and your medical health history. The back specialist will need to check how well your nerves work to be able to decide what is next to come. In certain cases, you might also need further imaging tests, such as:

X-ray
CT scan
MRI

However, such tests don’t always useful as they can’t always show why someone is suffering from a painful back or how much pain the person is in.

Maintain Regular Fitness Appointments

Treatment for back pain can require anything from a one-time visit to a short bout of physical therapy to invasive surgery. To minimize your risks, you should maintain regular visits to your pain management doctor. Once you’ve experienced any issues, you’re more susceptible to recurring back problems.

To prevent painful symptoms and further damage our pain specialists suggest you do exercises aimed at strengthening your core and your back while supporting the muscles that protect your spine.

Every sport carries its own set of risks. A back pain surgeon is familiar with the early signs of pain in the back. Tennis to football and everything in between can lead to:

Upper back pain
Middle back pain
Lower back pain
Back injuries
Herniated disc
Pulled back muscles
Compression fractures
Back sprain

How to Treat Back Pain?

While most back pain treatments require little, if any, invasive medical procedures, your pain relief may require the expertise you find at the Sports and Pain Institute of NY. Possible treatments include:

Cervical epidural steroid injections
Spine facet injection
Lumbar epidural steroid injection
Hip injection
Trigger point injections
Spinal cord stimulator
Sympathetic block
Nerve block injection
Infusion therapy

Your doctor always begins your treatment with the least invasive procedures before trying more aggressive approaches. Lifestyle changes and ongoing physical therapy almost always accompany back pain relief protocols.

Though every case of pain in the back is unique, our team of physicians can find the root cause of your lower back problem based on the symptoms, complaints, and diagnostic findings. Since some of the symptoms of back pain also are symptoms of more serious conditions, however, you should see our doctor if the symptoms worsen.

Febin Melepura, MD is a top rated, best in class interventional pain management doctor. He is a nationally recognized pain relief specialist and is among the top pain care doctors in New York City and the country. He is an award winning expert and contributor to a prominent media outlets.

Dr. Febin Melepura has been recognized for his thoughtful, thorough, modern approach to treating chronic pain and, among other accolades, has been named a “top pain management doctor in New York”, and one of “America’s Top Doctors™” for an advanced sports injury treatments.