What is Back Pain?
In the United States today, the primary cause of disability is back pain. This isn’t too surprising when you consider the complexity of your spine’s structure, with its many vertebrae, ligaments, tendons, shock-absorbent discs, muscles, and nerves.
Your back needs to be rigid enough to support your body while at the same time staying flexible to enable you to move. The considerable demands you put on your back daily can cause problems like strained tendons and muscles, sprained ligaments, disc injuries, and nerve damage.
What Are the Common Causes of Back Pain?
Some common causes of back pain include:
Herniated discs
Bulging or herniated discs are often the most painful back conditions, although you could have a damaged disc and feel no pain at all; it depends whether the disc is pressing on spinal nerves.
The problem develops when trauma or age-related wear-and-tear (degenerative disc disease) creates a flaw or weak spot in the disc’s outer casing. This allows the soft interior to squeeze out, which then presses on the nerves.
Subluxations
A subluxation describes a vertebra in your spine that moves out of place. It could result from stress, age-related changes, or physical trauma.
Stress
People often overlook the role of stress in back pain. Stress causes changes in your body because it triggers the release of hormones that, among other things, lower your bone density and muscle mass. Stress can also cause painful, tight spots in your muscles called trigger points.
Arthritis
The joint disease arthritis can affect the many small spinal joints (facets), causing chronic pain and stiffness. It can also lead to the growth of bone spurs and cause ligaments to thicken. Problems like these result in spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spine).
Another common cause of back pain is vertebral compression fractures in patients with the bone-weakening condition osteoporosis.
How Is Back Pain Treated?
Noninvasive approaches are the first option in treating back pain. Your provider at Pain Management of North Dallas, PA, is likely to recommend activity modification (avoiding movements that worsen your back pain), manual manipulation where necessary, and treatments like anti-inflammatory medication and physical therapy.
If your back pain is still causing problems, other treatment options include:
- Regenerative medicine
- Epidural steroid injections
- Facet joint injections
- Nerve blocks
- Radiofrequency ablation
- Spinal cord stimulation
By treating the causes of your back pain instead of just masking the symptoms, Pain Management of North Dallas, PA, gets better results, and the treatment becomes easier. To benefit from their expertise, call their nearest office today, or book an appointment online.
