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Treatment Options and Surgery for low back pain
and
chronic pain
Are
you suffering from back pain, leg pain or both? Do you have a
bulging disc, a herniated disc or sciatica? Have you been
told you need therapy, medications, injections or surgery?
Low back pain has become one of the most
significant medical and socioeconomic
problems in the world. Despite the
overwhelming statistics on the problem, the
number of chronic cases continues to grow.
Clinical Studies are emerging rapidly as the
medical community strives to address this
problem. Standardizing the evolution and
care of low back pain patients is critical.
There is a need for early, effective, target
therapy for the treatment of disc injuries. Highland Pain Institute can
provide relief and possibly return you to
normal lifestyle activities
Is spine surgery right for
you?
When
conservative methods for low back pain are
not successful, and your impairment or
disability gets worse, then it may be time
to consider
spine
surgery.
The most
common spine operation performed is a
surgical discectomy
(removal of a herniated disc). Although
there are many less invasive and minimally
invasive procedures available the hard truth
is that the standard surgical discectomy,
utilizing operating telescopes (not
operating microscope) and fiberoptic
headlight illumination remains the most
effective and cost effective treatment
modality.
What is an artificial disc?
The discs in your spine are
a
soft cushioning structure that are located between the
individual bones of the spine, also called “vertebra.”
They are made of cartilage-type
tissue and consists of an outer portion, called the annulus, and an inner
portion, called the nucleus. In most cases, these disc
are flexible enough to allow
your
spine to bend. An artificial disc (also
known as
disc replacement, disc prosthesis or
a spine arthroplasty device) is implanted into
your spine
and is meant to
imitate the functions of
your normal discs.
What is Back Pain?
Back pain is a symptom that can arise
from many causes. It can range from a
dull, annoying ache to absolute agony.
Many cases of back pain are caused by
stresses on the muscles and ligaments
that support the spine. Sedentary jobs
and lifestyles may create a
vulnerability to this type of stress or
damage. Obesity, which increases both
the weight on the spine and the pressure
on the discs, is another factor.
Strenuous sports such as football and
gymnastics can also damage the back.
What causes Low Back Pain?
Low back pain may reflect
nerve or muscle irritation or bone lesions.
Most low back pain follows injury or trauma
to the back, but
causes of low back pain may also be due
to degenerative conditions such as
arthritis or disc disease, osteoporosis or
other bone
diseases, viral infections, irritation to
joints and discs, or congenital
abnormalities in the spine.
Obesity,
smoking, weight gain during pregnancy,
stress, poor physical condition, posture
inappropriate for the activity being performed, and poor sleeping position
also may contribute to low back pain.
Pain Management
When you get
injured or have surgery, you expect to hurt
for a while, but you know that in time,
you'll heal and the pain will leave. If you
have a medical condition — from arthritis to
heart disease to shingles - you recognize discomfort as a
symptom and trust that treatment will help.
While you wait for your body to mend, pain
medication provides relief.
Chronic pain is different. Sometimes, it's
an aftereffect of an injury that appears to
have healed. Sometimes, it's a lingering
symptom of a past illness. And in some
cases, chronic pain develops out of the
blue, with no link to trauma or disease.
However you try to explain it, chronic pain
is something of a mystery. Tests and
examinations may uncover nothing abnormal,
but your body's distress is real.
Click here to
learn more about chronic back pain and pain
management
Who is most likely to develop low back pain? Nearly everyone has low back pain sometime.
Men and women are equally affected. It
occurs most often between ages 30 and 50,
due in part to the aging process but also as
a result of sedentary life styles with too
little (sometimes punctuated by too much)
exercise. The risk of experiencing low back
pain from disc disease or spinal
degeneration increases with age. BACK PAIN STATISTICS Low back pain is the most prevalent cause
of disability in people under age 45, and
of the $27 billion spent on all
musculoskeletal trauma $16 billion is
spent in the management of low back pain,
more than half of that $16 billion being
spent on surgical treatment. Approximately 60 to 80 percent of adults
in the U.S. experience low back pain at
some point in their lives. Most cases of
low back pain are considered acute, or
temporary, but some people suffer from
chronic, or ongoing, back pain.
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