Diagnosis and Treatment for Back Pain

Back pain is a common condition worldwide, and you will experience it at one point in your life. Injuries, activities, or medical conditions can cause it. Back pain Houston can affect you at any age. As you get older, developing the condition increases due to previous occupations or degenerative disk disease. This condition affects more women than men primarily because of hormonal factors. Weight loss, fever, swelling on the back, pain down your legs, and pain along your back are the main symptoms of back pain.

Diagnosis

Physical examination: Your doctor will touch your back and tell you to make movements to locate the affected part of your back.

X-rays: X-rays show the alignment of your bones and signs of arthritis or broken bones.

MRI or CT scans: These tests detect herniated discs or tissue, tendons, nerves, ligaments, blood vessels, muscles, and bones damages.

Bone scans: Your doctor injects radioactive substance or tracer into your vein to collect in the bones and detect bone issues using a special camera. Bone scans detect bone tumors or compression fractures due to osteoporosis.

Electromyography: This test measures electrical impulses produced by your nerves in response to muscles. It is a confirmatory test for nerve compression that may occur with a herniated disk or spinal stenosis.

Blood test: It helps detect any infection in your blood.

Treatment

Over-the-counter medications: Your doctor can recommend non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen to relieve pain.

Physical therapies: Ultrasound, electrical stimulation, muscle-release treatments, and applying heat or cold packs help relieve back pain.

Cortisone injections: Your specialist will use cortisone injections if other options are not working. The injections will be injected into your epidural space, around the spinal cord. Cortisone reduces inflammation in the nerve roots and reduces pain in areas thought to be causing pain.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT): This technique manages chronic pain and involves relaxation techniques and ways to maintain a positive attitude. After CBT, you tend to be more active and engage in helpful exercises resulting in low chances of back pain recurrence.

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS): Doctors recommend this treatment to patients with chronic pain. A TENS machine is placed on your skin to produce small electric pulses into your body through electrodes. This treatment stimulates the production of endorphins which blocks pain signals from returning to the brain.

Surgery: Although rare, your doctor will recommend surgery when all other treatments are ineffective or you have a herniated disk involving persistent pain and nerve compression leading to muscle weakness. Your surgeon can do a fusion operation to join two vertebrae with a bone graft and metal plates, screws, or cages to splint them together. Your doctor can also insert an artificial disk to replace the cushion between two vertebras. Discectomy is another surgery process where your specialist removes a portion of a disc that is irritating or pressing against your nerves. If a vertebra is pinching the spinal cord or nerves, your doctor will remove a section of it, causing damage.

Back pain can be persistent, hindering you from doing your usual activities. Schedule an appointment at Yancey Pain & Spine for back pain treatment to resolve the discomfort and get back to your daily engagements.