Diagnosis
Your healthcare provider will examine your back and assess your ability to sit, stand, walk, and lift your legs. Your provider might also ask you to rate your pain on a scale of zero to 10 and talk to you about how your pain affects your daily activities.
These assessments help determine where the pain comes from, how much you can move before pain forces you to stop, and whether you have muscle spasms. They can also help rule out more serious causes of back pain.
One or more of these tests might help pinpoint the cause of the back pain:
- X-ray. These images show arthritis or broken bones. These images alone won’t show problems with the spinal cord, muscles, nerves, or disks.
- MRI or CT scans. These scans generate images that can reveal herniated disks or problems with bones, muscles, tissue, tendons, nerves, ligaments, and blood vessels.
- Blood tests. These can help determine whether an infection or other condition might be causing pain.
- Nerve studies. Electromyography (EMG) measures the electrical impulses produced by the nerves and how the muscles respond to them. This test can confirm pressure on the nerves caused by herniated disks or spinal canal narrowing (spinal stenosis).
What are Some Common Causes of Back Pain?
The three common causes of back pain most likely to keep you from going to work or accomplishing daily activities are arthritis, degenerative disc disease, and failed back surgery syndrome.
- Arthritis: Arthritis is one of the most common causes of back pain. As you age, the bones in your spine can slowly degenerate and may pinch nerves or other supportive tissue in your spine. This leads to inflammation and pain in your lower back, upper back, or anywhere the pain radiates.
- Degenerative Disc Disease: Degenerative disc disease is another cause of back pain. When the soft discs between your vertebrae begin to deteriorate with age, they provide less cushion between the bones in your spine. Often, your vertebrae react by increasing bone growth, known as bone spurs. These spurs can put pressure on your spine and cause inflammation and pain.
- Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (FBSS): FBSS causes chronic back pain for many adults. Scar tissue and recurring herniated discs after back surgery can compress your spinal nerves and hinder your mobility. FBSS can be extremely painful and debilitating if left untreated.
Other causes of back pain include:
- Sprains or strains from lifting heavy objects or twisting
- Sports injuries
- Auto injuries
- Poor posture
- Obesity
- Sciatica
- Skeletal irregularities
Any of these, if left untreated, can cause complications and affect your overall quality of life.
How is Back Pain Treated?
The treatment for back pain depends largely on its cause, so before the doctors at Delaware Pain Relief create a customized treatment plan for you, they determine the underlying cause of your back pain, especially if it’s chronic. Once they determine the cause, they explain their goals and any recommended procedures that can help you minimize your painful symptoms.
The highly skilled medical team at Delaware Pain Relief specializes in interventional pain procedures. These types of procedures are meant to treat your pain and help you manage it so you can get on with your daily life. Some of these interventional pain techniques include:
- Epidural injections
- Peripheral nerve blocks
- Spinal cord stimulation
- Selective epidural and root blocks
- Facet injections and medial branch blocks
- Kyphoplasty to treat fractures
Other Causes of Back Pain
Finding the cause of your pain is the first step to getting effective treatment. A physical exam and a medical history review may point to the cause. In some instances, you might also need further diagnostic testing, such as:
Medical conditions such as arthritis, scoliosis, cancer, osteoporosis, and even chronic tension headaches can lead you to seek chronic back pain treatment. Alcohol or drug abuse and taking steroids also may be the source of your back problems.
There are many possible causes for primary or recurring pain, and a complete evaluation and early diagnosis by our back injury specialist in DE is critical.
Symptoms Can Vary Symptoms
During your consultation with the doctor, you need to explain the level of pain you experience, when it first started, what aggravates it, and what gives you any back pain relief.
Common symptoms of primary or recurring back pain issues include:
- Constant aching in your back muscles
- Pain that seems to dissipate when you lie down
- Radiating pain down your leg
- Severe pain that doesn’t respond to rest
- After a hard blow to your back or from a fall
- In addition to a fever
- With bladder or bowel problems
- Stabbing or shooting pain in specific points along your spine
- Tingling, numbness, or weakness in one or both legs
- Pain that gets worse when you walk, bend, lift or stand
Don’t wait until your symptoms get worse to seek treatment for your back problems. Delaware Pain Relief offers emergency appointments for back disorders.
