Is low back surgery the right call?
There has been an alarming increase in the amount of new patients I’ve seen that have had low back surgery.
Even more concerning are the amount that have had multiple surgeries! Through the first 4 months of 2022 about 25% (8 out of 33) of our new patients fit one of those 2 categories.
That's 1 out of every 4 people that come to us for chronic low back pain!
Read MoreHow can your foot pain be coming from your low back? There are nerves in your low back that create the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve branches and continues all the way down to the foot. Irritation or compression to the nerve anywhere along that path will create pain. If the nerves get compressed long enough the pain will eventually travel all the way down to the foot.
Read MoreBe an advocate for yourself and your future health. If you decide to see someone for your pain, ask questions where you feel uneasy or uncertain. It’s ok to question a provider if you don’t understand something or things aren’t making sense. Make sure they provide you with an accurate diagnosis and then explain how their treatment will affect the diagnosis. If they don’t provide you with a diagnosis, then ask them.
Read MoreWhat are Modic changes? Modic changes are inflammatory disruptions in the vertebrae (bones) of our spine. This is part of a process that happens after a disc has been damaged for a long time (6+ months). Imagine the discs in the low back to be like the soft, white of an Oreo and the vertebra (bone) to be the hard, black cookie. What happens with Modic changes is the disc will infiltrate the bone. The Oreo is cracked and the soft, white center is pushing through the cookie. This creates swelling, inflammation, and even fracturing in the bone.
Read MoreChronic pain has extensive layers and we often use the iceberg analogy to explain this to our patients. The pain one often feels is just visual part above water. What’s lurking below is often much more complex. By the time you step into a medical office to seek care your body has built up multiple layers of problems. Our bodies are amazing machines, and because of that we only tend to notice the primary problem. Imagine noticing every single ache, pain, or discomfort. You’d go crazy!
Read MoreAny painful motion has 3 components to consider:
What’s being compressed?
What’s being stretched?
What’s being contracted?
Any step avoided, misunderstood, or overlooked will result in ineffective results.
Read MoreBack pain is extremely common, everyone knows someone who has had back pain for years. Low back pain accounts for over $100 billion in health care costs each year! How can that number be so high?
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