Back Pain

You may be surprised to learn that back pain affects more than 40% of adults aged 18 to 44. Without prompt treatment from the team at the Brain and Spine Center of South Florida, chronic pain can lead to years of discomfort and disability. At their offices in Delray Beach and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, the experienced neurosurgeons offer the full range of conservative care before discussing minimally invasive spine surgery. Don’t wait to get help for back pain. Call the nearest office or book an appointment online today.

What causes back pain?

Back pain often develops after a sports injury or from overuse as you repeat the same movements during athletic or work activities.

Over the years, degenerative changes occur in your spine, causing painful conditions such as:

• Herniated discs
• Spinal osteoarthritis
• Slipped vertebrae
• Thickened ligaments
• Bone spurs
• Degenerative disc disease
• Spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal canal)

Any spinal injury or disease has the potential to pinch the spinal nerves, causing additional symptoms.

What symptoms accompany back pain?

Back pain alone can be excruciating and affect your ability to move. But if you have a pinched nerve, you can also develop symptoms that travel the length of the nerve. As a result, you may experience sharp pain, tingling, or burning sensations that shoot into your legs.

Sciatica, the most common example of nerve pain, occurs when the sciatic nerve is pinched, sending sharp, electric-shock pain down one leg. A severely damaged nerve may cause numbness and muscle weakness in your leg.

How is back pain treated?

Back pain treatment begins with anti-inflammatory medications, muscle relaxants, changing your activities to take pressure off your spine, and physical therapy. Your provider at the Brain and Spine Center of South Florida may also recommend a steroid injection or topical pain reliever.

Many people get the relief they need with conservative therapies, but if your pain persists, the team at the Brain and Spine Center of South Florida specializes in advanced treatments.

For example, they may recommend implanting a neurostimulator, which uses mild electrical impulses to stop pain signals from reaching your brain. If your brain doesn’t get the pain message, you can’t feel the pain, or your pain is substantially reduced.

Sometimes, the best way to ease your pain is with spine surgery to repair the underlying problem. You may need a procedure to decompress your nerves or remove a disc. If your neurosurgeon removes a disc, they either fuse the vertebrae or insert an artificial disc.

The experienced neurosurgeons at the Brain and Spine Center of South Florida typically perform minimally invasive surgery. Minimally invasive procedures use a tiny incision, causing less pain and allowing you to heal faster.

You can recover from back pain and regain an active life with expert care at the Brain and Spine Center of South Florida. Call the nearest office or book an appointment online today.