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Common conditions
Back and neck pain - Low back pain is an especially common condition, with back pain typically affecting eight out of 10 people at some point in their lives. A lot of chronic low back pain stems from arthritis, with inflammation targeting bones, ligaments and tendons.
Other common causes include muscle spasm, spinal stenosis (narrowing), diseased discs (discs separate the vertebrae), and nerve pain. Treatment for low back pain often enables patients to pursue physical therapy to strengthen the back and abdominal muscles.
Migraine headaches - This painful condition can last hours to days, often interrupting one’s daily activities, including work and social time.
While the primary treatment is behavior modification, other treatment may include preventive medications, cervical facet blocks, radiofrequency therapy and trigger point injections. Botox® injections may be given if neck pain is present and thought to be related to the headaches.
Muscle spasms - Muscle spasms can have a variety of causes, including sports injuries and motor vehicle accidents. They’re often very painful and affect one’s daily activities. Treatments to relieve spasms include trigger point injections, medications and physical therapy.
Neuropathy - This condition, marked often by painful nerves, can affect many parts of the body and is often brought on by disease, such as diabetes or alcoholism; medication (e.g., chemotherapy); or injury.
Neuropathy can also bring on numbness or tingling sensations to areas affected by the damaged nerves. Common treatments include medications, nerve blocks, and spinal cord stimulation.
Compression (bone) fractures - This condition occurs most often as part of osteoporosis, a disease marked by weakened bone density. Fractures occur typically in the spine, wrist and hip. Minimally invasive procedures that cement vertebral fractures and thereby help relieve pain are vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty.
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