Back Pain Management: Managing Chronic Back Pain
Some 16 million adults in the United States—8% of all adults–experience persistent or chronic back pain. It's a prevalent, debilitating, and costly experience for patients, with back pain health care and indirect costs adding up to $12 billion a year. Chronic pain in your back can interfere with your daily life and even prevent you from performing simple tasks.
People of all ages might suffer from chronic back pain for several causes, such as occupation functions and disc disease. Untreated chronic back pain can impede recovery by weakening the immune system and causing other negative outcomes. This article discusses everything about managing back pain and the most effective treatment for treating your chronic back pain.
What is Chronic Back Pain?
Chronic back pain is seen as pain that lasts for 12 weeks or longer, regardless of an initial injury or underlying cause. If left untreated, chronic back pain can last for weeks, years, or even decades. It can impair movement and make it difficult for people to complete their regular jobs and activities. It also causes a great deal of psychological and emotional distress.
About 20% of patients with acute low back pain experience chronic back pain with persistent symptoms. Even if pain continues, this does not always imply that it is easily detected and treated. In some situations, therapy successfully removes chronic low back pain, while in others, the pain persists after medical and surgical treatment.
What Causes Back Pain?
Back pain may also be caused by a traumatic injury to a disc in the spine, which can lead to annular tears. These tears put pressure on the disc and can cause the nucleus pulposus to protrude through the tear, resulting in inflammation and back pain. This discomfort may worsen with additional injuries.
Additionally, inflammation from the annular tear can spread to nearby nerve roots, causing leg pain. These signals travel up the nerves to the brain and result in localized back pain.
Types of Chronic Back Pain
There are four primary types of chronic back pain:
- Nerve pain is caused when a nerve is compressed or irritated. This is often described as sharp, stabbing, or burning.
- Muscle pain is caused by tension or overuse of the muscles in the back. This is often described as achy or throbbing.
- Arthritis pain is caused by inflammation of the joints in the back. This is often described as achy, burning, or stiff.
- Spinal stenosis is caused by a narrowing of the spinal canal. This is often described as cramping or achy.
There are several treatment options available for chronic back pain, including physical therapy, medications, surgery, and lifestyle changes. Physical therapy can help to stretch and strengthen the muscles in the back. Medications can help to reduce inflammation and discomfort. Surgery can be used to correct anatomical problems that are causing discomfort. Lifestyle changes, such as losing weight and quitting smoking, can also help to reduce back pain.
Role of Pain Management for Chronic Back Pain
Many individuals suffer from chronic pain daily. If not addressed properly, this discomfort can lead to a cycle of unsuccessful therapies and frustration. As a result, researchers have learned a great deal about pain and its physiological and psychological effects, resulting in advanced pain management treatments that can provide total or partial relief.
Chronic pain has become so common that pain management treatments offered by pain management doctors and clinics have become increasingly important.
What exactly is pain management?
In its most basic form, pain management is a branch of medicine and health care concerned with the alleviation of discomfort in many forms. It ranges from acute to chronic and difficult distress. Pain management treatment is typically thought of as a reaction to a diagnosis, but it is more. It serves several purposes in chronic back pain; its therapies are not just to provide relief.
Pain management serves numerous functions. It is critical in the treatment of persistent back pain.
Pain management can benefit chronic back pain patients by:
- Identify back pain point: It can aid in the diagnosis of the underlying cause of chronic back pain. Although this normally entails a series of tests, it helps pinpoint the source of the patient's back problems.
- Provide an alternative to surgery: It can be used to help a patient reduce discomfort without having to undergo surgery. Many patients initially prefer non-invasive pain relief methods, with surgery as a last choice. Therapies such as physical therapy exercises and massage may provide patients with the relief they want without resorting to painful procedures such as surgery.
- Rehabilitate patients after surgery: Some patients may require surgery to stabilize the spine or heal damage. After surgery, many patients endure increased pain and attempt to control it as the body heals. Alternative pain management methods are beneficial in rehabilitating patients and allowing the body to heal.
- Help patients manage pain: Pain management professionals utilize their experience to teach patients how to manage their pain effectively at home and independently.
Non-surgical Treatments for Chronic Back Pain
Finding a treatment for chronic back pain may be stressful, with intervals of ease relief followed by acute discomfort. Doctors generally advocate for medication-free therapy as the first step in addressing chronic back pain. Surgery is frequently undertaken after all other options have been exhausted. Many patients have access to non-surgical and medication-free therapy options such as:
1. Physical therapy and home exercise:
Exercise is an important part of any treatment plan for back-related problems. It can help to relieve discomfort, increase strength and flexibility, and improve your overall sense of well-being. There are a number of different exercises that can be done at home to help relieve discomfort and improve function. These exercises should be designed specifically for your individual needs and should be performed under the guidance of a qualified healthcare professional.
Physical therapy can also be a helpful form of treatment for back-related problems. A physical therapist can teach you exercises to help relieve your back-related problems, as well as help you identify and correct any movement patterns that may be contributing to your general discomfort.
2. Mindfulness and meditation:
Mindfulness and meditation are two techniques that can be used to help cope with chronic back pain. Mindfulness is a technique that involves focusing on the present moment and accepting thoughts and feelings.
This can help to decrease stress and anxiety, which can in turn help to reduce pain levels. Meditation is another technique that can be used to help cope with chronic back pain. This involves focusing on a single point, such as the breath, and allowing thoughts and feelings to pass without judgment. Meditation can help to calm the mind and body, which can in turn help to reduce pain levels.
3. Injection-based treatments:
Injection-based treatments, such as epidural steroid injections and facet joint injections, can be used to help relieve pain and improve function in people with chronic back pain. These injections can help to reduce inflammation and improve mobility.
Other treatments for chronic pain may include:
- Acupuncture, acupressure, and massage therapy
- Osteopathic manipulation
- Psychological treatment
How do you get rid of back pain fast?
- Exercise: Although it may seem paradoxical to exercise when suffering from back pain, the appropriate type of movement can help alleviate the pain. When it comes to relieving back pain, various exercises might be beneficial.
- Use of hot or cold treatments: Hot or cold therapy is another effective treatment option. This treatment is simple to adopt and relatively inexpensive. Certain types of back pains may be relieved by this method. This might include lower back pain caused by reasons such as spinal stenosis.
- Get better sleep: Getting adequate sleep is another effective method. Poor sleeping positions can cause back pain. If you have trouble sleeping, you should switch sides regularly. Choosing the right mattress is also crucial.
- Maintain proper posture: If you work in front of a computer screen, get out of your chair, stretch, and go for a stroll regularly. Avoid slouching your shoulders or cocking your chin forward.
When is surgery a good idea for back pain?
Surgery is rarely used to treat chronic back pain. Back surgery is only considered after all non-surgical or conservative treatments are exhausted. If it is employed, it is usually as a last option. It is also difficult to treat chronic back pain surgically since there is often no identified cause of discomfort. The surgeon cannot operate until he or she knows the pain point and what has to be fixed.
But when back surgery is needed, it frequently improves accompanying pain or numbness that travels down one or both arms or legs more consistently. The cause of your back pain will determine the precise medical treatment, and the surgeon will offer the best advice.
What is the best surgical treatment for managing chronic back pain?
Although surgery is usually the last option for chronic back pain, Deuk Laser Disc Repair is the best and least invasive surgical procedure.
Deuk Laser Disc Repair
Deuk Laser Disc Repair is a form of endoscopic spine surgery performed in a state-of-the-art Duek Spine Institute under sedation while the patient relaxes. This procedure does not compromise or weaken the health and integrity of the spine, and is an effective treatment for herniated or bulging discs and chronic back or neck pain.
With the Deuk laser disc repair, the surgeon is able to access the spine and remove only the damaged disc material that is causing the discomfort, leaving healthy tissue intact. This results in a quicker and less painful recovery for the patient.
The Deuk laser disc repair is performed using a Holmium YAG laser, which is a highly precise and powerful laser. This allows the surgeon to remove only the damaged tissue from the back of the disc, while preserving healthy tissue. The laser spine surgery works by being performed endoscopically, which means that a small camera is inserted into the spine through a small incision in the skin. This allows the surgeon to see inside the spine and guide the laser precisely to the damaged tissue.
The surgery is performed under sedation, so the patient is relaxed and comfortable during the procedure. The surgery itself takes about one hour, and the patient is in recovery for 45-60 minutes before being released to go home. There is no need for hospitalization, and the risks of hospital-based surgery are avoided.
After the surgery, the patient can expect a speedy recovery with minimal discomfort. Opioid or narcotic painkillers are not typically needed after this type of surgery, as opposed to other open spine surgeries such as microdiscectomy, laminectomy, artificial disc replacement, and fusion. This is because the Deuk laser disc repair preserves healthy tissue and does not cause the same level of internal trauma.
If you are suffering from herniated or bulging discs and chronic back or neck pain, Deuk Laser Disc Repair may be an effective solution for you. This minimally invasive procedure results in a quicker and less painful recovery, with no need for hospitalization or powerful painkillers afterwards.
Manage and Treat Your Chronic Back Pain
At Deuk Spine Institute, we only suggest surgery to patients who absolutely require it. Patients who do not require surgery can benefit from our other alternative therapies such as pain management treatments and counseling.
We also recognize how stressful a chronic pain diagnosis can be. For this reason, our physicians offer premium patient-oriented care and assist you in understanding your chronic back pain.
Contact us at Deuk Spine Institute today. We also offer free consultation on your MRI scan. Visit our site here to start your treatment. Submit your MRI for a free review with our team.
