What causes back pain?

Back pain often begins when you pull a muscle or ligament, a problem that can happen during everyday activities or because of a fall, sports injury, or auto accident.

You can also end up with back pain that sneaks up on you, building up gradually as you repeat the same movements. This type of overuse injury begins with a small tear in the soft tissues, then the damage gets worse over time.

Spine conditions that commonly cause back pain include:

• Disc herniation
• Slipped disc
• Facet joint arthritis
• Bone spurs
• Spinal stenosis
• Compression fractures
• Degenerative disc disease

These conditions lead to chronic back pain as they irritate or pinch spinal nerves.

What other symptoms accompany back pain?

Muscle cramps, stiffness, and limited movement typically go hand-in-hand with back pain. Pinched spinal nerves also cause tingling and pain that travels into one or both legs.

Sciatica is the best example of radiating nerve pain. When the sciatic nerve is pinched, it causes bursts of electric-shock pain that go down one leg. In severe cases, a pinched nerve can result in numbness and muscle weakness affecting your leg and foot.

How is back pain treated?

After reviewing your symptoms and finishing a comprehensive physical examination, Dr. Abbasi conducts on-site diagnostic testing to verify your diagnosis.

Your customized treatment is based on the cause of your pain and your treatment history. If you haven’t already tried conservative therapies, Dr. Abbasi starts your treatment with medication, activity modification, and physical therapy, and rehabilitation.

The next step in relieving back pain is interventional medicine. This field of pain medicine uses advanced treatments that directly target the source of your pain.

Possible interventional treatments include:

• Facet joint injection
• Medial branch block
• Epidural steroid injection
• Radiofrequency nerve ablation
• Trigger point injection
• Sympathetic nerve block
• Intradiscal electrothermal therapy (IDET)

If your lower back pain doesn’t improve, or you have chronic muscle spasms or fibrous adhesions, Dr. Abbasi may recommend spinal manipulation under anesthesia.

He may also talk with you about minimally invasive spine surgery to repair the underlying cause of your pain. For example, decompressing nerves or removing a herniated disc may be necessary when your pain persists.

You can get relief from acute and chronic back pain with the specialized treatments available at New Jersey Pain, Spine & Sports Associates. Call the office or book an appointment online today.