Common Back Problems
The Lumbar Spine is an extraordinary piece of genetic engineering. It provides you with flexibility and support . The Lumbar spine is known as L1-L5. When you have issues in your lower back this is usually the area your back pain comes from. Most people that experience back pain commonly have lower back issues coming from the lumbar spine.
The lower back supports your upper body and allows you to bend and twist as well as support your back while you sit. Since the lumbar spine is the most used part of your back strains can occur causing pain. Some pulled muscles and strains may just be a pulled muscle or strain but a degenerative disc can feel almost the same as a strain.
Your back is so complex that the injury to your lower back can occur and get worse as time passes. Here is a list of symptoms from someone who has lower back pain:
- Dull and Achy Pain
- Pain when standing up or walking
- Pain that worsens as you stand or sit for long periods of time
- Burning sensation that runs from the lower back to the back of your thighs
- Numbness or Tingling
Severity of your lower back pain
- Acute Pain– Back pain that can last for a few days – few weeks then pass.
- Subacute Pain – Back pain lasting from six weeks – 3 months
- Chronic Back Pain – Back pain that lasts more than three months
Here are two types of back pain
- Mechanical– This is pain caused from your muscles or joints. This type of back pain is usually caused by over exerting your lumbar spine.
- Radicular Pain– This type of back pain is caused when your nerve root is inflamed or impinged. Things such as a herniated disc or bulging disc may be the cause of this.
Whether you have Mechanical Pain or Radicular Pain there is still an injury that needs to be addressed. There are more sources that can cause your back pain, but these are the two most common types that cause back pain.
Common Causes of Chronic Back Pain
Herniated Disc – The disc in your lumbar spine may be impinging on your spinal nerve root causing sharp pain.
Degenerative Disc Disease– As you grow older your disc loose a lot of the jelly like substance and wears down. This ends up causing you back pain
Spinal Stenosis– Your spinal canal narrows and causes issues to your spinal cord and nerves
Osteoarthritis– The wear and tear of your facet joints.
Common Non-Surgical Treatments for lower back pain
Anti-Inflammatory Medication– Reduce the inflammation coming from the damaged disc
Muscle Relaxants– Increase the mobility of your muscles to reduce muscle tightness
Epidural Steroid Injections– Under fluoroscopy the surgeon injects a steroid into the area that is causing your back pain in order to reduce inflammation around the damaged nerve root
Chiropractic Treatment– A chiropractor may help your back pain by manipulating your spine in order to improve your mobility which in return lowers the stiffness of your spine
If you have herniated discs or degenerative disc disease, you may be able to control the back pain temporarily. Pain is subjective, but if you have a bad herniated disc that is severely impinging on the spinal cord, surgery may be the best option.
Decompression Surgeries
These are considered minimally invasive procedures that our surgeons are able to perform. A decompression surgery helps your back pain because it removes the material that is pressing up on your nerve or spinal column. This may be a herniated disc or a bone spur.
The two types of decompression surgeries that we do at Florida Surgery Consultants are:
Microdiscectomy– Removes the bulging portion of the herniated disc
Laminectomy– removes a portion of the bone that is compressing on your nerve or spinal root
Fusion Surgeries
A fusion surgery just like it sounds fuses your spine together. It is one of the more invasive surgeries, but sometimes it is needed if your back pain is severe enough. Here are two types of fusion surgeries that we do for back pain.
TLIF – Our surgeons use bone graft in the interbody to be fused. The bone graft then heals forming a large bone
ACDF– The herniated disc is removed and the bone graft is placed in order to keep the bones from rubbing together. The spine is then fused to bridge together the two vertebrae
Coflex – Titanium alloy device is implanted after the herniated disc is completely removed. This keeps the spine from having to be fused. The benefit is that it keeps the spine mobile.
Florida Surgery Consultants Can Help
If you are suffering from back pain and need to figure out a way to cure back pain, Florida Surgery Consultants can help. We are a team of board-certified neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons that are able to perform minimally invasive procedures to the most complex surgeries. Come for an initial consultation, just because our surgeons do surgery does not mean that every patient requires surgery. Call (888) 411-6824 to schedule a consultation today.
