Back pain is common amongst people of all ages and can have negative consequences on everyday life. For example, severe back pain can cause people to miss out on work, become less productive and can cause a range of social and psychological problems.
There is a wide range of causes for back pain, including facet joint pain, slipped disc injury, strain, poor posture and certain medical conditions such as osteoporosis. While back pain can affect anyone from any age, the risk increases with age. Older people have a higher risk of back pain due to factors such as working for a long time in a very physically demanding job or degenerative disk disease. Lower back pain can also be linked to discs between the vertebrae, ligaments around the spine and discs, bony lumbar spine, lower back muscles, abdominal and pelvic internal organs, spinal cord and nerves and the skin around the lumbar area. On the other hand, pain in the upper back can be caused by disorders of the aorta, spine inflammation and tumours in the chest.
Back pain that does not subside within three months is known as chronic back pain. Chronic back pain can either be mild nagging pain or severe pain.
Treatment
At Pain Clinic Ethekwini, we use Diagnostic Injections in the spine to determine the cause of your pain.
We do the following tests:
- Selective root or transforaminal Epidural steroid injections
- Facet joint or its nerve block. If the result is positive then it is treated by radiofrequency ablation (RFA)
- Provocative discography. If the result is positive than it is treated with Percutaneous Disc FX Discectomy, Dekompressor / ozone discectomy
The plus side of these procedures is that they are generally quite effective in reducing pain, and they reduce the need for surgery in most cases.