Orthopedic Care Specialists

Back Pain Treatment & Overview

Back pain is a common condition that affects over 80% of Americans at some point in their lives. Sources of back pain include degenerative disc disease, pinched nerves, pulled muscles as well as arthritis. These conditions can affect individuals and cause various types of back pain, upper back, the middle of the back, as well as the lower back, often presenting itself with sciatica – a pain or tingling feeling in the legs.

Back Pain Symptoms

Back pain can affect your life in many ways, and may feel debilitating both physically and socially. Back pain makes it difficult to perform everyday activities, such as gardening, hiking or sports. You may even feel isolated from your peers for fear of injuring yourself further. Back pain treatment should focus on not just alleviating pain but also increasing mobility and stability, helping you get back to your active lifestyle, back pain-free.

Back pain is often the result of the following actions:

• Muscle / ligament strain
• Improper / heavy lifting – overextending the back
• Strain from an awkward back movement, often the result of a sports injury

Back pain can often be the result of the following conditions:

• Degenerative disk disease – wear-and-tear of the disks in the spine, specifically the deterioration of the cushioning
• Herniated disk (slipped disk) – ruptured tissue in the vertebrae
• Can cause sciatica, creating a sharp shooting pain down the leg
• Arthritis – inflammation of the joints between vertebrae; also known as sponylarthritis
• Osteoporosis – bone tissue in the spine thinning due to wear-and-tear

Find out more about Orthopedic Care Specialists' physical therapy treatment for lower back pain.