You can develop back pain after a fall or auto accident or suffer from a long-term spinal condition like degenerative disc disease. If back pain disrupts your life and limits your activities, visit board-certified Asher C. Goldstein, MD, and the Zephyr Medical pain experts in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. They offer cutting-edge nonsurgical treatments for back pain, including the Intracept® procedure for vertebrogenic pain. Call Zephyr Medical today or book an appointment online to enjoy specialized care and effective back pain treatment.

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What causes back pain?

Back pain has many causes. The most common ones include:

Injuries

Auto accidents and playing sports can cause injuries like whiplash, where the muscles and connective tissues in your neck and upper back stretch and tear. You can also suffer a spinal injury that damages the vertebrae (bones) that form the spinal column.

The discs in between your vertebrae can rupture in an accident. The disc’s outer shell tears, allowing the soft center to push into your spinal canal. Vertebral compression fractures most commonly happen in people with osteoporosis, a disease that weakens the bones, so they break easily.

Age-related degeneration

As you age, your spinal structures deteriorate. The facet joints linking the vertebrae might develop osteoarthritis, where bones rub against each other. Ligaments can thicken, and bone spurs (bony outgrowths) appear, causing spinal stenosis (spinal canal narrowing).

Degenerative disc disease happens over the years as the discs dry out and harden. A weak spot in the outer shell might allow the disc’s core to bulge or herniate (push through) into your spinal canal. Degenerative disc disease can also damage your vertebral endplates, causing vertebrogenic pain.

Some people’s back pain comes from scoliosis, an unnatural curve in the spine to the left or right. Kyphosis, where the spine curves abnormally in your upper back, causes a hump.

What symptoms does back pain cause?

Back pain symptoms vary depending on their cause. You might feel a dull ache if you have arthritis. Or a sharp, shooting pain that goes down one leg if you have sciatica (compression of the sciatic nerve in your lower back).

In addition to pain, you might experience symptoms of nerve compression. These include:

  • Numbness
  • Tingling
  • Prickling
  • Burning
  • Weakness
  • Loss of function

Problems like these usually indicate that one or more of your spinal nerves is injured or under pressure (radiculopathy).

How is back pain treated?

The Zephyr Medical team creates a personalized treatment program for you based on the results of your physical exam and imaging studies (X-ray, CT scan, or MRI). Your plan might include:

  • Physical therapy
  • Medication
  • Epidural steroid injections
  • Nerve block injections
  • Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)
  • Pain management counseling
  • Lumbar disc gel sublimation
  • Spinal cord stimulation
  • Minimally invasive lumbar decompression (mild®)

Zephyr Medical also offers the advanced Intracept procedure for vertebrogenic pain. This innovative, nonsurgical treatment involves heating the nerve root in the area causing pain. The heat destroys the nerve, stopping it from transmitting pain signals to your brain

Call Zephyr Medical today or book an appointment online to take advantage of the team’s skill in diagnosing and treating back pain.