If you have ever had back pain you will know how awful it can be. Over three-quarters of adults over the age of 50 have complaints of backache, and causes vary from aging, injury from moving awkwardly, trapped nerves, muscle irritation and more. There are a number of options for treating back pain, from seeing a chiropractor to getting a good massage in Brick. Here is a look at some of them.
Treatment and therapies that are non-invasive
Here are some options for pain relief and treatment that do not involve surgery or something invasive.
- Exercise and muscle manipulation – sometimes in order to help with a problem or prevent it from happening, carrying out certain stretching exercises can help. This lengthens muscles that may have shortened and gives you better mobility, as would a professional massage in Brick. This option is only for certain back issues though.
- Pain medications and muscle relaxants – anti-inflammatory medications like ibuprofen, aspirin and naproxen can help reduce swelling and relax the muscles. Other medications might be prescribed or bought from a pharmacy to also help with pain relief. As a last resort for example a doctor might prescribe opioids as this is a derivative of morphine which comes with risks of addiction.
- TENS or Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation – an alternative treatment, this involves having a low voltage current via electrodes to your back.
- Chiropractic care – Seeing a chiropractor in Brick could be exactly what you need to help with your back issues. They use a form of manual manipulation that can be used as an alternative to traditional medicine, or alongside it.
- PT or Physical Therapy – Commonly used when you might have a sporting injury or have been in an accident and you need help restoring movement and strength to an area of your body. When you are experiencing pain and stiffness in your lower back, PT could help restore movement and help maintain it.
Treatments and therapies that are invasive
Here are some options for pain relief and treatment that do involve surgery or something invasive.
- Certain types of injections – there are certain steroid injections that can be prescribed that can help a person manage the pain of the condition better than oral medications can manage. It might help you manage the pain while you seek further medical treatment or work out an alternative option like seeing a chiropractor or a physical therapist for example.
- Nucleoplasty – if the pain is from a slipped disc or spinal disc herniation this procedure burns the nucleus.
- Intradiscal electro-thermal (IDET) coagulation of the nucleus is to treat people with intervertebral disk disorder.
- Microsurgical discectomy – while this is surgery it is very minimal for treating lumbar ischemia.
- Other major surgeries – there are a number of options depending on the back problem and its cause. They might include stimulation of the spinal cord, removal of the lamina, treating spinal cord compression, relieving nerve pressure and so on.
Summary
There are a lot of reasons you might have back pain. Make sure you talk to your doctor before you rush into an alternative option, or make sure the chiropractor in Brick you see, or the massage professional, has experience and knows what they are doing so they do not make the problem worse.
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