Back Pain

What are the causes of low back pain and upper back pain?

Rarely, infections and tumors cause lower back pain and upper back pain - more common causes include:

• Mechanical problems - difficulty moving your spine in certain ways: An example is disc degeneration - the discs located between the vertebrae of the spine have broken down with age. Other mechanical causes of back pain include spasms, muscle tension, and ruptured or herniated discs.
• Injuries: Spine injuries such as sprains and fractures can cause either short-lived or chronic pain. Sprains are tears in the ligaments that support the spine, and they can occur from improper twisting or lifting. Fractured vertebrae are often the result of osteoporosis.
• Change in appearance - redness, bruising
• Acquired conditions and diseases: Many medical conditions can cause or contribute to back pain. These include scoliosis, pregnancy, kidney stones, and fibromyalgia.

What are the symptoms of back pain?

The symptoms of back pain are:

• Persistent aching or stiffness along the spine, from the base of the neck to the hips.
• Sharp, local pain in the neck, upper back, or lower back -- especially after strenuous activity.
• A chronic ache in the middle or lower back, especially after sitting or standing for a long time.

Diagnosing Back Pain

A thorough diagnosis involves obtaining a detailed history of your condition and performing an examination of your spine and the surrounding area. To ensure the most accurate diagnosis, we also offer such options as open MRIs, and CT scans. Other tests may include X-rays, a bone density test, blood tests, an EMG, and a discography.

Treating Back Pain

Often people get back pain relief on their own - taking over-the-counter pain relievers and resting can help. However, staying in bed for more than one or two days can make it worse. If your back pain is due to an injury, is severe and comes on suddenly, or doesn't improve after three days (becomes chronic back pain), contact us for further evaluation.

Treatment options include: individualized back rehabilitation programs; instruction; exercise physiology; aquatic therapy; posture correction; functional capacity evaluations; spinal manipulation; epidural steroid injections; trigger point injections; nerve root blocks; and facet joint injections.

In addition, we embrace non-traditional treatments such as acupuncture, chiropractic care, meditation/relaxation, and Qui-Gong. Our goal is to return you to good health without pain.

When conservative measures fail to control pain and improve back function, we will discuss surgery. In most cases, surgery is performed on an outpatient basis using minimally invasive procedures, which reduces pain, risk, recovery time, and expense.