Back Pain Specialist

What causes back pain?

As many as 8 in 10 people have back pain sometime in their life. While some back pain may go away in a few days, many people experience chronic back pain due to aging, injury, or overuse. Some of the most common causes of back pain are:

• Disc herniation: Interior of a spinal disc pushes through an exterior crack
• Spinal stenosis: Narrowing of spinal spaces
• Sciatica: Sciatic nerve compression in the lower back
• Arthritis: Osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other types
• Sprains: Stretching or tears in ligaments
• Strains: Stretching or tears in tendons or muscles
• Fractures: Caused by osteoporosis (bone thinning)
• Spondylitis: Vertebral inflammation
• Spondylolisthesis: Vertebrae slip out of position

Most of these conditions affect the lumbar spine, which includes the L1 to L5 vertebrae in the lower back. Because of this, the lower back is by far the most common area for back pain.

When might I need pain management for my back pain?

For most people, back pain eases within 12 weeks. Back pain is chronic if it lingers beyond this time, and it may require pain management. 

When back pain doesn’t improve in a timely manner, you may need to explore long-term pain management options rather than shorter-term approaches like opioid medications. 

Many people with chronic back pain also experience daily frustrations like being unable to enjoy their normal activities. Some people can’t walk, drive, or care for themselves due to back pain. These are all good reasons to consider pain management. 

How does pain management for back pain work?

Capital Pain Consultants uses an individualized approach to back pain. This may include:

Conservative strategies

Initial treatments usually include options like physical therapy, medication management, bracing, and custom orthotics.

Injections

Back pain sufferers often first turn to epidural steroid injections and other injections, such as nerve blocks and facet joint injections. Injections can reduce back pain for anywhere from days to months.

Radiofrequency ablation 

Radiofrequency ablation deactivates the nerve that causes your pain. This treatment lasts longer than injections, but the nerve does regenerate eventually. 

Advanced pain management options

Capital Pain Consultants offers advanced pain management options for stubborn back pain. These include implanted spinal cord stimulators, which disrupt nerve signals from inside your body, and intrathecal pain pumps, which deliver pain medication directly to the area of pain. 

Capital Pain Consultants usually recommends multimodal pain management, in which a patient-specific combination of therapies yields maximum pain relief. 

For help with back pain, call Capital Pain Consultants, or click the online appointment scheduler now.