Low Back Pain Triggers
Your lumbar area supports most of your body weight, which means it is significantly involved in essential movements, such as bending, turning, and lifting heavy objects. What increases the risk of a disease in your lower back is this constant strain. Among the most common, we can find
Herniated Disc
Between every vertebra, there are soft discs that absorb impacts from your activities, protecting the correct movement of your spine. When your discs suffer a displacement, they can press the surrounding nerves, causing chronic pain.
Arthritis
With this condition, your tissues begin a degenerative process, and you can feel how your joints become weakened. This disease can impact the facet joints in your spine; as a result, you may experience low back pain and have a restricted motion range.
Sciatica
A stinging pain is a sign of this condition, often in your low back and legs. It occurs when your sciatic nerve is compressed, usually due to a herniated disc or bone spur, which is an anomaly of growth in your bones.
Muscle Strain
Strain in your muscles or joints is caused by rough movements or inadequate lifting of heavy objects. These types of lesions are generally unnoticed until the pain becomes chronic and part of daily life.
Other Causes
Every diagnosis is different for each patient. In our experience, other common causes of lower back pain are degenerative disc disease, sacroiliac joint dysfunction, spinal stenosis, and compression fractures. However, your consultation is essential to finding the root cause of your pain and starting the right treatment.
Warning Signs To Visit Your Doctor
Some episodes of low back pain can be relieved with basic care and rest, but certain symptoms may indicate the need for a medical consultation. Signs as:
- Chronic pain for at least one week
- Pain that radiates to the legs, causing weakness
- You can resume your daily activities despite a mobility restriction.
We care about you; making a self-diagnosis is important to schedule your appointments and avoid worse symptoms like heavy bladder control or unexpected body weight loss.
Our Target In Comprehensive Care
At University Pain & Spine Center, we have adopted a focus on identifying the root cause of your lower back pain. To have an overview of your diagnosis, our team will follow these four steps:
- Medical Record: We review your symptoms, medical background, and lifestyle to understand the context of your pain.
- Physical Exam: We evaluate your mobility, muscular strength, and reflexes. Another key process is to check your sensitivity to detect any anomaly.
- Imaging Studies: We visualize the state of your spine’s internal structures using X-ray, Magnetic Resonance, and Computed Tomography.
- Spine Injections: If your case requires spine injections to refine the diagnosis and locate with precision the root source of your pain.
Personalized Treatment
Based on your condition, our team can tailor your recovery plan to look for a long-term solution with comfortable and non-invasive treatments. Our range of services for low back pain includes:
area
Spine Injections
Steroids or anesthetics are applied directly to the affected area to reduce inflammation and chronic pain. The injection targets your lower back and radiates the medication to the legs and pelvic area to combat the numbness.
Radiofrequency Ablation
This procedure involves heating the affected area in your nerve to block the pain signal sent to your brain. Possibly, we need to burn more than one nerve to complete the treatment successfully. The results can be noticed within a few weeks.
Nerve Block
The sympathetic nerves have a wide range of functions and are located on both sides of your spine. After finding the affected areas, the medicine will be injected to numb the nerve. Initially, the discomfort will stop, and you may also experience numbness in your legs; this secondary effect usually lasts for a few hours. To ensure a long-term solution, you will need to return for more injections in the future.
Intradiscal Electrothermal Therapy
Intradiscal Electrothermal Therapy (IDET) is a specialized procedure designed to treat pain caused by damaged spinal discs. To strengthen the affected zone and increase stability, we insert a catheter into the affected disc and then heat the surrounding tissues.
Other Available Treatments
Depending on your diagnosis, you can choose other treatments. We can offer you:
- Vertiflex® Superion® Indirect Decompression System
- Regenerative medicine
- Coflex™ interspinous stabilization
- Kyphoplasty
- Spinal fusion
- Discectomy
- Spinal cord stimulator
At University Pain & Spine Center, we combine our medical experience with advanced technology to provide you with comprehensive care. Call us or schedule your appointment to transform your days into high-quality ones.