Back Pain
If you injure parts of your back, you may feel pain. You may not remember the injury—but your back does, and the pain is trying to tell you something.
Back pain is actually very common—about three in four adults will experience back pain during their lifetime, especially low back pain. Most back pain comes from sprains and strains caused by stressful movements, and with a bit of medical attention, those will get better. Occasionally, back pain requires more demanding medical help and possibly even surgery. But remember, even severe pain may not require severe treatment, so always check with your doctor.
Back pain may be acute or chronic. Acute pain lasts four to six weeks, but chronic pain is persistent, long-term pain—sometimes lasting throughout life. At times, people with chronic pain can also have episodes of acute pain.
Back pain comes in many forms. It may be sudden and sharp—or it may be dull. Pain may occur with movement, and it may even occur with coughing and sneezing. You may also have numbness in your arms or legs. (Leg symptoms are often referred to as sciatica caused by a pinched nerve.)
It’s important to treat your back pain properly. Seek medical attention if your back pain persists—and seek immediate attention if you have any of the emergency signs listed in the red box below.
Warning Signs You Need Help
- Pain is getting significantly worse
- Pain affects every day activities
- Severe symptoms
- Groin or leg weakness or numbness
- Arm or hand weakness, tingling, or numbness
- Loss of bowel or bladder control
There are a variety of reasons for back pain. To get the best treatment, you first need to know the origin of the problem. This article will help you understand back pain and some of its causes. You will read about treatment options and discover prevention tips to help you avoid injury.
Managing Back Pain with Radio frequency
According to Science Daily and the Mayo Clinic Health Letter, people with painful spinal arthritis may do well by having radio frequency ablation treatment. Also known as radio frequency denervation, this is an outpatient pain management procedure that either stuns or destroys the nervous tissue carrying signals of pain to the brain. It works by damaging the nerve with heat, thereby deactivating it. The theory behind the treatment is that if the nerves carrying pain messages don’t work, then you won’t be able to feel the pain. About.com’s Arthritis guides, Carol and Rick Eustice have the details. Radio frequency denervation is also used for back pain from disk and facet joint problems.
However, the Cochrane Collaboration, a non-profit organization that reviews medical research studies and reports the results to the public in plain language*, found only limited evidence that this procedure can provide the sought after relief. While their review was last updated 4 years ago, in 2003, it did show that at best, radio frequency denervation only offers pain relief for certain people with specific neck conditions, and only partial pain relief at that. Evidence for relief of low back pain was conflicting, and for disk problems in the low back, there was some evidence that the procedure gave no relief at all.
* I am a consumer reviewer for the Cochrane Back Group, which means I look at their work and provide comment as to how it might answer the questions of non-medical people with back pain.
Neck Pain
Neck pain is bothersome and it has a variety of causes. It could be a stiff neck from sleeping funny or it could be a serious neck injury. Typically, neck pain is the result of muscle strain, and one side of the neck may hurt more than the other. Muscle strains tend to improve within one week or so. However, if the pain persists longer, call your spine specialist, as it may be another condition that needs medical treatment.
Symptoms may include:
- Neck soreness on one or both sides
- Burning pain
- Tingling sensations
- Stiffness
- Pain around the shoulder blades
- Arm complaints (pain, numbness, or weakness)
- Pain that moves around your body (for instance, down an arm)
- Trouble walking or writing
- Trouble swallowing or talking
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Blurred vision
- Fever
- Night sweats
- Tiredness
- Unintentional weight loss
It is important to treat your neck pain properly. Seek medical attention if your neck pain persists—and seek immediate attention if you have any of the emergency signs listed in the red box below.
Warning Signs You Need Immediate Help
Neck pain is one of the symptoms of meningitis, a relatively rare but very serious contagious infection. You need urgent medical care if you have neck pain with:
- High fever
- Sensitivity to light
- Irritability
- Severe tenderness with neck movement
Neck pain also can be due to injury. A severe neck injury could be life-threatening. You may need emergency medical treatment if you have neck pain with:
- Numbness
- Weakness
- Tingling symptoms
There are a variety of reasons for neck pain. To get the best treatment, you need to know the origin. This site provides information on various treatment options and prevention tips to help you make wise choices
