Back Pain Specialist

What causes back pain?

Back pain often occurs from a sports injury or when you pull a muscle during everyday activities. However, overuse injuries rank as one of the top reasons for back pain.

An overuse injury occurs when you frequently repeat the same movements. The ongoing stress leads to small tears in your tendons, ligaments, and muscles.

Over the years, degenerative changes occur in your spine and cause painful conditions such as:

• Herniated discs
• Spinal stenosis
• Facet joint arthritis
• Slipped vertebrae
• Degenerative disc disease

Back injuries and degenerative conditions often pinch the spinal nerves, adding additional symptoms to your back pain.

What symptoms accompany back pain?

Your back pain may feel like a sharp pain or a dull ache. The pain may come and go, be constant, or only flare up when you move in a certain way.

Many people with back pain have limited spinal movement. You may also develop muscle spasms or knots.

Pinched nerves cause pain, tingling, and burning sensations that radiate down your arms or legs. Sciatica represents one of the most common examples of pinched spinal nerves.

When you have a pinched sciatic nerve, you experience back pain and the hallmark symptom of severe pain that suddenly shoots down one leg. Many people describe it as feeling like an electric shock. In extreme cases, damaged nerves cause numbness and muscle weakness in the arm or leg.

How is back pain diagnosed and treated?

After reviewing your medical history, learning about your symptoms, and performing a physical exam, your provider may need to get diagnostic images such as X-rays, an MRI, or a CT scan.

Once your provider knows the cause of your back pain, they create a customized treatment plan that draws from a range of therapies, including:

• Physical therapy
• Activity modification
• Therapeutic massage
• Home exercise regimen
• Anti-inflammatory medications
• Muscle relaxants
• Trigger point injections
• Joint injections
• Customized back brace

Most people feel better after conservative treatment. However, if your pain doesn't improve or gets worse, your provider may talk with you about minimally invasive surgery to repair the underlying problem.

Early treatment for back pain lowers your risk of developing a long-lasting problem. Schedule an appointment by calling Sequoia Institute for Surgical Services or book online today.