Back Pain

What is back pain?

Back pain is characterized by discomfort that affects the upper, middle, and lower back. This type of pain can be caused by a number of underlying conditions, degenerative diseases, injuries, muscle strain, and more.

What causes back pain?

Muscle strain and injury are common causes of back pain. However, other back pain causes include:

• Arthritis
• Herniated disc
• Spinal stenosis
• Degenerative disc disease
• Pinched nerves
• Bulging disc
• Sciatica
• Osteoporosis
• Certain cancers
• Obesity
• Poor posture

While back pain can affect any age group, lower back pain most commonly affects women.

What are the symptoms of back pain?

A dull ache, sharp pain, or feeling of a muscle strain are all considered typical symptoms of back pain. Some other back pain symptoms are:

• Pain that radiates down the buttocks and legs
• Inflammation in the back
• Numbness
• Shooting pain
• Feeling of pins and needles in legs
• Muscle spasms

Schedule an appointment with your doctor right away if you experience any rare back pain symptoms, such as urinary incontinence, fever, unexplained weight loss, or fecal incontinence, as these can be signs of an underlying condition.

How is back pain treated?

Advanced Pain Management offers many back pain treatment options at their office, including:

Stem cell therapy

Stem cell therapy for back pain involves harvesting stem cells from one area of your body and injecting them into either side of your spine. Because stem cells help your body naturally repair damage, this type of treatment can improve degenerative conditions like facet joint syndrome.

Epidural injection

During an epidural injection, the team injects a corticosteroid and a numbing agent into the epidural space of the spine to reduce pain and inflammation.

Transforaminal epidural injection

A transforaminal epidural injection is a treatment that specifically targets lower back, leg, and foot pain caused by sciatica, herniated discs, and other lower back problems.

Facet joint injections

A facet joint injection is a minimally invasive procedure that involves injecting a small amount of anesthetic into the facet joints near the spine to relieve back pain.

Medial branch block

A medial branch block is an injection of a powerful anesthetic into the medial branch nerves, which feed out from the facet joints. If these joints become inflamed, a medial branch block can reduce pain and inflammation.

Radiofrequency ablation

Radiofrequency ablation is a minimally invasive procedure that uses radio waves to heat nerve tissue and stop it from sending pain signals to the brain.

Sacroiliac joint injection

A sacroiliac joint injection relieves lower back pain with an injection of a local anesthetic and steroid medication into the sacroiliac joint. 

Advanced Pain Management offers many minimally invasive treatments to reduce back pain. To learn more, call the office or schedule an appointment online.