Tag Archives: lower back pain
When you were growing up, your mother probably told you to stand up straight and keep good posture. She was right. Good posture is the key to having a healthy, pain free spine. As you sit or stand with bad posture, the muscles in your back weaken. As these muscles weaken, the tightness of the discs in your back break down. This makes it easier for discs to slip or shift. As a disc moves or becomes loose, it can easily pinch a nerve between the discs or outside of one of one of the discs. This can be very painful.
Poor posture has been directly related to lower back pain. The more you slouch the weaker the muscles in your back become. Having weak back muscles can lead to serious problems, if not immediately, later down the road. This problem with posture is not limited to when you are standing, it also happens when you are sitting. Many teenagers and adults look back and realize that the first sign of lower back pain was actually while they were slouching on the couch or in their compute chair. Continue reading
Posted in Tales of Chronic Back Pain, Tales of Chronic Neck Pain, Tips and Advice, Uncategorized
Tagged bad posture, good posture, lower back pain, pain free spine
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It is estimated that 80 percent of the US population is affected by some type of back pain. As a result, at least one-fourth of patients need long-term medical care. The foremost concern of patients is the cost associated with a spine surgery and related procedures. In fact, some debate if such a surgery is cost effective?
Before discussing the cost factor, it is important to understand that there is no universal rate for such complex procedures therefore medical institutions and clinics do not advertise a rate list. Their reluctance to provide cost is based on the risks of lawsuits by patients if the patient’s cost expectations are not met. Actually, cost varies by the type of procedure, geography, age, and the hospital. Still, there are reasonable cost estimates that every patient has the right to know before undergoing surgery. The best person to ask is your back pain doctor who will try to offer a reasonable solution within your budget. For example, it is not uncommon for a spinal fusion surgery to cost between $25,000 and $50,000.
According to experts, couple of years earlier, the average cost of related procedures in California was: Continue reading
Posted in Tales of Chronic Back Pain, Tales of Chronic Neck Pain, Tips and Advice, Uncategorized
Tagged back pain doctor, Houston surgeons, lower back pain, Spinal Fusion surgery, spine surgery
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Abdominal surgical procedure is a medical operation that is done on individuals who have problems in organs that make up the abdomen. This procedure may be performed on body organs like the small and large intestines, stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas and so on. Once infection in those organs occur, an abdominal surgery is required. Appendicitis, inflammatory bowel syndromes and tumors may also call for such medical operation. Just like any other health procedure, abdominal surgeries do not come without side effects. Pains on the lower back portion can be experienced by patients who went through an abdominal surgery. With that, it is good to identify the common causes of lower back pains subsequent to an abdominal surgical treatment.
There can be a various reasons why people suffer with lower back pains once they have experienced any abdominal surgery. For instance, this may be caused by the fact that such surgical procedure requires the patient to be immobile for several days. People who go through an abdominal operation would have to suffer the long days of lying flat on the bed until they can safely get up as advice by the surgeon in charged. At times, patients who walked for the first time after an abdominal surgery may have to use a wheelchair before they can fully stretch their legs and straighten their backs. Continue reading
Chronic back pain usually doesn’t refer to the severity of the pain, but the duration of symptoms. Anyhow, it can become very disturbing if not treated in the right way. The first important thing is to understand the difference between that usual back pain that 90% of people feel at some point of their lives, and the chronic pain that is typically over twelve weeks in duration and is commonly described as a deep, aching, dull or burning pain.
The pain may change down the front, side, or even back of your leg, or it may be confined to the low back, and even get worse with activity. In many cases, the patient is unable to stand on toes or bring the foot downward, and it all happens the first sacral nerve is injured or even compressed. The chronic back pain can fluctuate, with no pain at times, and then flare up at other times.
Proper back pain treatment includes revealing the cause of that condition. Spondylosis happens as intervertebral discs lose moisture through years, which decreases the disc height. Degenerative arthritis is when lower back pain gets worse in the morning and in the evening, and the patient can feel the stiffness (usually in older adults). Even the musculoskeletal pain can produce low back pain, which includes myofascial pain syndromes and fibromyalgia. Continue reading
Are you the kind of person who is suffering from lower back pain? Many conditions can afflict a person over the years; this is one of the only times where your mobility and your quality of life can be affected to such an extreme that you are desperate for solutions. Most turn to the over-the-counter 
solution in the form of heating pads, pain relievers, or braces. The worst part is, pain as you get older is almost inevitable. As the body ages, normal wear and tear takes its toll on the spine and muscles, only dwarfed by injuries and/or trauma suffered from serious accidents. In other cases, back pain, lower back pain specifically, can be a sign of more serious underlying issues or the result of poor lifestyle.
The good news is there are solutions to coping with your pain. Not ever ache and cramp requires a run to the hospital for spinal surgery. Instead, try to cope through non-surgical means. Make sure you are getting enough rest everyday, but not too much. Stagnate living can actually aggravate the symptoms or possible condition. Apply heat and ice to affected areas. Application of cold packs can help reduce inflammation following traumas. After a few days of cold treatment to the tender areas, patients can begin to utilize heat in the form of heating lamps, warm baths and heating pads for brief periods to relax the muscles. A patient should see to it that they are also seeing a back pain doctor referred to by their primary care physician. Only the proper licensed individual can prescribe heavier pain medications if necessary when other methods of treatment are either ineffective or not enough. Proper exercise within personal means and routine massage therapy are also shown to strengthen and improve back muscles while simultaneously relaxing the strain. In the meantime, make sure to chronicle back pain when it persists, as well as what you were doing and the time of day. These are useful pieces of information for your doctor when trying to diagnose and treat your pain. Continue reading
The patient needs a diagnosis that will confirm the need for any spinal problems before a doctor determines what type of surgery is necessary. Lumbar stenosis is a condition of the spine that requires many tests and it is a complex decision for any surgeon to take on as a step in curing a patient with pain in their lower back. There are increased risks for complications when you are about to have this type of surgery done. The doctors often will recommend invasive surgery that can be very effective in preventing pain in your lower back, known as complex spinal fusion Lumbar stenosis. A proven fact is that life threatening results from invasive surgery increased from 2.3% to about 5%.
There are now new surgical devices that are being used when necessary to help a patient who has constant back pain. It seems that the data behind this type of surgery is not conclusive enough to determine why many doctors are doing surgery on a patient to relieve them from their back pain. Continue reading
Recent studies indicate that about 127 million Americans qualify as overweight or obese, according to the American Obesity Association (AOA), a trend that has been rising steadily since the mid-1980’s. And obesity is not exclus
ive to America, says the World Health Organization (WHO); once considered a health issue affecting only wealthy countries, obesity is now increasing dramatically in “third world” countries, especially in urban environments.
While the more serious health risks associated with obesity include diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer, another serious side-effect is chronic back pain. In one report, the AOA states that women who are obese are especially prone to lower back pain. Continue reading
Posted in In The News, Tales of Chronic Back Pain, Tips and Advice, Uncategorized
Tagged American Obesity Association, chronic back pain, Degenerative Disc Disease, lower back pain, obesity, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, sciatica, Spinal Stenosis, spine and obesity, Spondylolisthesis, spondylolysis, World Health Organization
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Did you know that how you are sleeping could be the culprit of your chronic lower back pain? Sleeping positions can exacerbate or even cause back pain to develop. The good news is that whether you sleep on your side, stomach or back, simple changes at bedtime may be able to relieve or eliminate your current back issues.
Sleep on Your Side?
If you love to sleep on your side, place a pillow between your knees and thighs to prevent your top knee from sliding forward onto the mattress. When this position occurs, it can cause your lower spine to rotate, causing back or even hip pain to worsen or develop.
Sleep on your Stomach?
Even though you may love this position, avoid sleeping on your stomach. This position causes your back to arch, one of the most common causes of lower back pain. If you can’t sleep any other way, consider placing a small pillow underneath your hips to put your spine into proper alignment. Continue reading
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