Navigating Back & Neck Pain Solutions
Back and neck pain can affect quality of life in every way, which is why LLUMC-M brings holistic and advanced spine care to our patients. Our physicians and staff love working with patients to provide lasting relief and solutions for anyone suffering from spinal injuries caused by damaged nerves, strained muscles, damaged joints and other causes.
Patient Navigator
Navigating back and neck pain can be frustrating. In order to alleviate potential frustration, we provide a patient navigator to guide patients through each step of the process whether it is organizing past medical records or preparing to meet with a physician or surgical team.
Signs That A Back And/Or Neck Procedure Could Be Right For You
The back and neck are an interconnected network of spinal muscles, nerves, bones and discs. These interconnected parts can become injured over time from simple wear and tear, or become damaged suddenly during an accident. Any type of damage to the spinal region can cause a significant amount of pain and discomfort. There are several signs you might be a candidate for a spinal procedure
You suffer from chronic back, neck, arm, or leg pain or numbness that has been bothering you for a long time
Your pain increases when you cough or sneeze
You have pain that wakes you up while you’re sleeping
You have difficulty urinating or defecating, or you have lost control of urination or bowel movements
You have fractured or broken vertebrae
While these symptoms could stem from a variety of things such as sudden trauma or wear and tear, it’s most likely indicative of a pinched nerve or spinal cord damage. Back pain is often caused by irritation of nerve roots, strained lower back muscles, damaged bones, ligaments or joints, or degenerating intervertebral discs. These injuries can come from present or past vehicle crashes, falls, participating in sports and everyday activities.
Non-Surgical Treatments and Classes
Our caring physical therapy staff can increase a patient’s mobility and help them perform day-to-day physical activities affected by back pain. They provide customized approaches to building strength and flexibility to alleviate and manage pain, which can relieve discomfort without a major surgical procedure.
Other non-surgical procedures include using fluoroscopic technology (a continuous live x-ray) to place medicine in exact locations to alleviate pain. For instance, Trigger Point Injections may be an option to treat painful areas of muscle that contain trigger points and knots of muscle that form when muscles do not relax. Epidural injections also using fluoroscopy place anti-inflammatory medicine into the epidural space to decrease inflammation of the nerve roots in an attempt to reduce the pain in the neck, shoulders and arms. Additionally, nerve blocks given with an anesthetic or anti-inflammatory injection can alleviate nerve pain by being targeted toward a certain nerve or nerve group.
All of these are minimally invasive outpatient procedures that have a very short recovery time. Many times patients will feel some tenderness at the injection site that lasts a day or two. Best of all, many patients feel fast non-surgical relief for pain that has been bothering them for a long period of time.
Types Of Spinal Procedures Offered
Motion-preserving total disc replacement/arthroplasty
Minimally invasive lumbar fusion
Outpatient treatment of spinal stenosis and herniated discs through a less than 1 inch incision
3-dimensional x-ray guidance for placement of spinal implants
Surgical treatment of scoliosis, spine tumors, and spine fractures
Recovery
Many of our patients return to their normal lives and the many physical activities they enjoyed prior to engaging with our physicians and support staff. Our goal is to make our patients as pain free as physically possible so they can live life to the fullest.
Support
In addition to services like medicine and surgery, we believe in the power of support: dietary counseling, physical therapy and aquatic exercise to help you sustain positive results. Our specially trained team works together to integrate every aspect of your care.