Back pain is an extremely common complaint ranging from muscle aching to burning, stabbing, or shooting sensations that may travel to the legs, buttocks, or abdomen.
Back pain happens when structural or mechanical problems develop in the parts of the back, such as spinal discs, vertebrae, muscles, ligaments, or tendons. Sometimes back pain can come suddenly from a fall, accident, or lifting something heavy, while other times, it can develop slowly due to age-related degenerative changes in the spine.
If you have back pain that is not responding to at-home measures and is negatively impacting your mental and emotional health, you may need to see a back doctor. Let’s talk about how a back doctor can evaluate your pain and provide appropriate treatment and where you can find the best back doctor in Melbourne, FL.
Back Doctor Will Evaluate Your Back Pain
When you see a back doctor with a complaint of back pain, first, they will conduct a thorough evaluation to determine the underlying cause of your back pain. Your pain management doctor or back doctor may perform a physical exam and order some diagnostic tests like X-rays, CT scans, and/or MRIs.
A pain management doctor may also ask questions about your pain, like where and when you feel pain, what relieves your pain, whether the back pain stays in one place or radiates to other parts of the body, and how the pain feels. Additionally, they may also give you a pain scale on which you willrate your pain from zero to 10.
After determining the severity, cause, and location of your back pain, your back doctor will describe your back pain as throbbing or pounding pain; sharp or shooting pain; stinging, pulsing, or burning pain; or aching, dull or nagging pain.
Back Doctor Will Provide Personalized Back Pain Treatment
Based on the type and severity of your back pain, the findings of the initial evaluation, and your personal preferences, your back doctor will create a treatment plan which may include cutting-edgepain management options that provide long-lasting pain relief without the risks of traditional spine surgery.
The following are some intervention pain management strategies and minimally invasive techniques that a back doctor can offer to relieve back pain.
Epidural injections
Epidural injections are commonly utilized to ease pain originating from the upper back, lower back, or neck. The injections involve injecting an anti-inflammatory steroidal medication into the epidural space surrounding the spinal cord.
Epidural space is the space outside the sac of fluid around the spinal cord. Your back doctor can use imaging techniques, such as fluoroscopy (a form of X-rays), to guide the epidural injection.
Facet Joint Injection
Facet joints permit the bones to rotate and are responsible for bending, twisting, and aligning the spine. The lumbar facet joint issues are common causes of chronic lower back pain.
Facet joint injections involve injecting a local anesthetic medicine into the facet joint to alleviate pain. In addition to the lumbar region, facet joint injection can also be administered in the cervical and thoracic regions of the spine.
Sacroiliac Joint Injections
Sacroiliac joints connect the spine with the pelvis. Sacroiliac joint injections deliver local anesthetics and steroidal medications to treat low back pain or hip pain associated with the sacroiliac joint.
Nerve Block Injections
Nerve block injections deliver a numbing medicine near the bundle of nerves that sends pain signals to the brain. The numbing medicine blocks the nerve from sending signals perceived as pain.
Spinal Cord Stimulation
Spinal cord stimulation is a minimally invasive pain management therapy that provides relief from back pain that fails to improve with guided injections and other more conservative interventional pain management techniques like nerve block and trigger point injections.
Spinal cord stimulation is a form of neuromodulation therapy that has been in use for years to manage chronic back pain. It uses a small device called a spinal cord stimulator,which sends pulses of electric current into the spinal cord to alleviate chronic back pain.
Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulation
Dorsal root ganglion stimulation also involves the use of a stimulation that targets a very specific nerve bundle called dorsal root ganglion. The dorsal root ganglion is associated with the nerves that carry sensory information from the body to the spinal cord.
Dorsal root ganglion stimulation targets these nerve bundles and provides lasting relief from back pain. Studies have also shown the efficacy of dorsal root ganglion stimulation in treating lower back pain.
Kyphoplasty & Vertebroplasty
If you have suffered a compression fracture of the spine causing significant back pain, vertebral augmentation using either vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty might be your option.
Vertebroplasty uses imaging techniques to inject bone cement into the fractured vertebra. The bone cement fused the bone fragments to alleviate any pain the fractured fragment may be causing.
Kyphoplasty uses specially designed needles to insert a small balloon into the fractured vertebra. The balloon creates a cavity in the bone which is then filled with bone cement under low pressure.
Back Doctor in Melbourne, FL
Here at Central Florida Spine & Pain, our pain management specialist Dr. Nicholas Giordanouses advanced and minimally invasive techniques to relieve back pain, neck pain, and other painful conditions associated with injuries, surgeries, and medical conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis. Our highly trained and skilled back doctor uses drug-free and non-surgical treatments to eliminate your pain, no matter what type it is.
If you would like to make a one-on-one consultation with Dr. Nicholas Giordano, please contact us today at (321) 802-5021 or fill out our online appointment request form.
