What are the different types of back pain?
The two main kinds of back pain are lumbar pain and thoracic spine pain.
Thoracic spine pain
Thoracic spine pain (upper or middle back pain) may occur anywhere from the bottom of your neck to around your waist.
Lumbar spine pain
Lumbar spine pain (lower back pain) is the most common kind of back pain. It occurs in any area between your waist and sacroiliac joint that joins your lumbar spine and pelvis.
Both types of back pain can be either short-term or chronic. Generally, chronic pain is any back pain that continues for longer than the normal expected healing time.
When should I seek specialized treatment for back pain?
If your back pain interferes with your daily life and your current treatment approach isn’t adequate, the physical medicine and rehab approach at The Rehab Doctors might be right for you. If you’re facing back surgery, but want to find out if there are other alternatives, a non-surgical approach could help.
How do you treat back pain?
The Rehab Doctors’ team starts with a full back pain assessment that may include advanced diagnostics like electromyography (EMG) studies, diagnostic medial branch blocks, or provocative lumbar discography. Once your doctor diagnoses the underlying source of back pain, they prescribe a personalized treatment plan.
Often, patients start with physical therapy. Medical insurance plans often require a minimum of six physical therapy sessions. Physical therapy may reduce or even eliminate pain, especially in conjunction with prescribed home exercise.
If physical therapy doesn’t relieve 50% or more of your pain, injections may be a good treatment option. The spine injection options at The Rehab Doctors include:
Epidural injections
Thoracic and lumbar epidural injections are steroid injections that treat pain in the epidural space, the area around the protective sheath that covers your spinal cord and nerves.
Facet injections
Thoracic and lumbar facet injections treat pain in the facet joints that join your vertebrae.
Lumbar medial branch block injections
Lumbar medial branch block injections disable pain signaling from your facet joints to your brain. A lumbar medial branch block injection is often ideal for patients who get significant pain relief from lumbar facet injections, but the relief didn’t last long enough.
Lumbar radiofrequency ablation
Lumbar radiofrequency ablation treats lumbar spine pain. You may have this treatment after having two different medial branch block injections and getting 80% or greater pain relief. This treatment disrupts nerve function, preventing pain signaling.
Sacroiliac joint injections
Sacroiliac joint injections combine an anesthetic and corticosteroids to treat pain in the two joints at the bottom of your spine.
A spinal cord stimulator, in which a small implanted device intercepts pain signals from your spinal nerves, may be another option for chronic back pain.
Get back pain relief from The Rehab Doctors by calling the office or clicking the online scheduler now.
