Our Services / Back Pain

Many people think of back pain as a problem for older adults. But chronic back pain develops in 14-24% of teens and 41% of adults between the ages of 18 and 44. If you have back pain, Rajiv Sood, DO, and the team at Spine and Orthopedic Center offers the convenience of all-inclusive care in one location, including diagnostic testing, physical therapy, medical care, and interventional pain management. If you need relief from back pain, call the office in Jonesboro, Georgia, or book an appointment online today.

What causes back pain?

Many people develop back pain following a sports injury or when they pull a muscle during daily activities. However, overuse injuries are some of the most common causes of back pain. Overuse injuries occur when repetitive movements gradually tear ligaments, tendons, and muscles.

As you get older, natural degenerative changes cause painful back problems such as:

• Facet joint syndrome
• Spinal stenosis
• Herniated discs
• Slipped vertebrae (spondylolisthesis)
• Degenerative disc disease

Back injuries and degenerative diseases often pinch the nearby nerves, causing another set of nerve-related symptoms.

What symptoms accompany back pain?

You can develop varying types of back pain. You may feel a dull, aching pain or a sharp, stabbing pain. Your pain could come and go or turn into a constant problem.

Back pain often limits your spinal movement. Additionally, adjusting your posture and body mechanics to avoid the pain puts extra stress on the supporting muscles. As a result, you end up with muscle knots (trigger points) and spasms.

When the problem responsible for your pain pinches your nerves, you may experience symptoms such as pain, tingling, and burning sensations that shoot down one or both legs. Severe nerve damage leads to leg numbness and muscle weakness.

How is back pain diagnosed and treated?

Dr. Sood performs a comprehensive evaluation starting with getting detailed information (medical history, symptoms, and details about your pain), followed by a thorough physical exam, and digital X-rays. 

Depending on the results of your evaluation, you may need an MRI to further evaluate the soft tissues in your spine.

After diagnosing the cause of your back pain, Dr. Sood creates a treatment plan that includes many possible modalities. A few examples include:

• Physical therapy
• Customized back brace
• Spinal decompression therapy
• Anti-inflammatory medications
• Muscle relaxants
• Trigger point injections
• Facet joint injections
• Spinal cord stimulation
• Standard epidural steroid injection
• Transforaminal epidural steroid injection
• Radiofrequency ablation
• Medial branch nerve block

Interventional procedures such as epidural steroid injections, nerve blocks, radiofrequency ablation, and spinal cord stimulation target specific nerves. 

These treatments reduce nerve inflammation or use anesthesia, radiofrequency energy, or electrical impulses to stop pain signals from reaching your brain.

When performing interventional procedures, Dr. Sood uses real-time X-ray imaging, called fluoroscopy, to view your spine and precisely guide the needle to the nerve.

You can get relief from back pain with the range of on-site treatments at Spine and Orthopedic Center. Call the office or book an appointment online today.