What Are The Best Non-Surgical Treatments For Back Pain?

Back pain can be debilitating, and is considered chronic if it lasts three months or longer. Whether caused by an accident or from a chronic degenerative condition, dealing with back pain can be frustrating.

While surgery can be an option to combat back pain, at our care clinic at Impact Medical Sun City Center, we like to take a more holistic, natural approach to treating pain. Follow us as we explore some of our favorite non-surgical treatments for back pain. Don’t give up hope, there is a treatment that can help!

Common Causes of Back Pain

Back pain can be caused by a muscle strain, overuse, or an accident. We consider it chronic when it lasts for 3 months or more.

The most common causes include:

• Spinal arthritis: Caused by the gradual thinning of the cartilage of the spine.
• Spinal stenosis: The narrowing of the spinal canal that can cause nerve pain.
• Myofascial pain syndrome: Causes muscle pain without a clear cause.
• Herniated or bulging discs
• Obesity
• Osteoporosis

If you have back pain, you should not feel pressured to undergo surgery, as they are often invasive and can have painful side effects. We like to think of it as a last resort after other options have been exhausted.

Non-Surgical Treatment for Back Pain

We like to suggest these medication-free treatments and modalities as the first step in treating chronic back pain:

Physical Therapy

Improving your posture, strength, and flexibility through targeted stretches, movement, and core-building exercises can help reduce back pain.

Chiropractic Care

Chiropractors use hands-on manipulation to properly align the body’s musculoskeletal structure, generally the spine. This enables the body to heal itself without surgery or painkillers.

Chiropractic treatments can relieve pain in the muscles, joints, bones, and connective tissues in the body.

Manual Therapy

Hand pressure can help reduce tension, relieve joint pain, and help ease any inflammation that you may have from an injury or chronic pain.

Water Therapy

Water creates the optimal environment to perform exercises and stretches that can help improve your flexibility, balance, and strength.

The buoyancy of water helps relieve the pressure the body feels on land, thus allowing the pressure in between vertebrae to ease which leads to lasting relief when back on land.

Lifestyle Changes

By following an active lifestyle and eating a healthy diet, patients can prevent some of the back pain that is caused by obesity which often puts pressure on the spine and its discs.

Also, avoiding smoking is key to preventing back pain and leading a healthy lifestyle.

Osteopathic Manipulation

Gentle pressure, stretching, and specially applied resistance can relieve joint discomfort and improve overall blood flow and therefore muscle balance.

Injections

Nerve blocks and trigger point injections can be greatly beneficial for chronic back pain. These procedures work best when the source of back pain is known, but they are not generally intended as a long-term solution for treating back pain.

Epidural injections involve steroids administered into the epidural space which surrounds the spinal cord. A fluoroscopy, which is a live x-ray, guides the epidural needle into the correct area. By relieving the inflammation surrounding a compressed nerve root, these injections provide temporary pain relief.

The overall goal is to control pain which allows patients to take part in physical and other manual therapies.

Alternative Treatments

Acupuncture, biofeedback therapy, electrical nerve stimulation, and other alternative treatments can also be beneficial for chronic back pain, especially when used in conjunction with the above therapies.

Get Relief from Back Pain Today

This year, say goodbye to chronic back pain with the help of our team at Impact Medical Sun City Center. With treatments ranging from chiropractic and manual therapy to pain management injections, and physical therapy, we can design a treatment plan specifically for your unique needs.

Let this year be the year you put back pain in the rearview. Contact us at Impact Medical Sun City Center to schedule a consultation today at (813) 938-5195!