Back Pain

What is the anatomy of the back?

At the heart of your back lies your spine, which is made up of 33 vertebrae and 23 discs divided into five sections:

• Cervical spine, or your neck
• Thoracic spine, or your mid back
• Lumbar spine, or your low back
• Sacrum
• Coccyx

Surrounding your spine and providing critical support and range of motion are muscles, ligaments, tendons, and discs.

What are the most common causes of back pain?

As the foundational support for your entire body, and given its complexity, it’s little wonder that back pain is so prevalent. Back pain can crop up after an isolated incident or on the heels of generalized wear-and-tear and degenerative issues.

The most common causes of back pain include:

• Herniated or bulging disc
• Spinal stenosis
• Muscle tears or sprains
• Ligament tears or sprains
• Arthritis
• Degenerative disc disease
• Compression fractures
• Facet joint dysfunction
• Sacroiliac joint dysfunction
• Skeletal irregularities, like scoliosis

Most back pain occurs in the low back, which makes sense given that this area of your back has the widest range of motion and forms the base of the support in your back.

How is back pain treated?

As an orthopedic specialist who believes in a holistic approach to back pain, Dr. Cherukupally offers a number of different back pain remedies that don’t potentially complicate the issue through surgery. As part of her treatment protocol, she offers pain management injections, including:

• Epidural steroid injections
• Facet joint injections
• Nerve root blocks

These pain management injections go a long way toward relieving your immediate symptoms, but Dr. Cherukupally doesn’t stop there as she helps you find a more long-term solution through:

• Regenerative medicine, including stem cell and platelet-rich plasma therapies
• Physical therapy
• Lifestyle changes

These efforts outside of the pain management injections can help you find long-lasting relief from your back pain. And, more often than not, it takes a combination of treatments to garner the best results. For example, once she relieves your pain through injections, she helps rebuild your tissue with regenerative medicine. And you can do your part by strengthening your back through physical therapy, which will help with your immediate pain and prevent back problems down the road.

To remedy your back pain using a comprehensive approach, call Regenerative Sport, Spine and Spa or schedule an appointment by clicking on the online booking button.