What are the causes of lower back pain?
Lower back pain is frequently due to muscle strain from twisting awkwardly, falling, or lifting without using the correct technique. There are also many ways in which your spine can deteriorate over the years, leading to disorders such as:
- Herniated lumbar discs
- Lumbar spinal stenosis
- Degenerative disc disease
- Osteoarthritis
These conditions can cause lower back pain if there's any misalignment, inflammation, excess tissue growth, or deterioration in your spine that leads to radiculopathy.
Radiculopathy is a term for conditions in which pinched spinal nerves cause pain and other sensations such as tingling, prickling, and numbness.
Sciatica is the primary form of lumbar radiculopathy, where the sciatic nerve in your lower back comes under pressure. It causes a shooting pain from your lower back down one leg.
How is lower back pain treated?
To ensure you get the right treatment, Dr. Patel needs to find the cause of your back pain. He conducts a physical examination and reviews your symptoms and medical history; he might also order diagnostic tests such as X-rays or a CT scan.
Once you have a diagnosis, Dr. Patel creates a personalized treatment program for you. Initially, treatments for lower back pain are conservative, involving physical therapies, rest, and activity modification. Medication can also help, particularly nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
In many instances, these front-line treatments effectively reduce pain and inflammation and get you moving again. However, some patients might require other approaches to resolve their lower back pain.
What advanced treatments are there for lower back pain?
Dr. Patel offers an extensive range of minimally invasive therapies for lower back pain that isn't improving after initial treatment.
These include:
- Lumbar epidural steroid injection
- Lumbar sympathetic block
- Lumbosacral medial branch block
- Peripheral nerve block
- Peripheral nerve stimulation
- Sacroiliac joint injection
- Spinal cord stimulation
If a nerve block shows that your lower back pain is coming from the nerves around your facet joints, Dr. Patel might suggest radiofrequency ablation. This treatment involves using radio wave energy to heat the nerves causing your lower back pain.
The heat destroys the nerves, although they do eventually grow back. In the meantime, pain and other sensations should improve noticeably.
To find out how Dr. Patel can help resolve your lower back pain, call Spine & Pain Institute of Texas today or book an appointment online.
