You do not have to live with chronic intractable lower back pain. Yet, conservative measures, including activity modification, hot and cold packs, OTC medications, and active physical therapy, often fail to resolve the pain in your lower back. But it’s important that you do not give up on trying to find treatments for your pain.
What Is Chronic Intractable Lower Back Pain?
Chronic pain is pain that doesn’t resolve within a reasonable period; the pain can come and go or be persistently present. Intractable pain is pain that is not improving with typical medical treatments. For the patient with chronic intractable lower back pain, the impact is more than just about being in pain – it’s about the impact that the pain has on your quality of life, and your mental health as well. It’s important to pursue other treatments and get a better understanding of what is causing the pain. And you may be surprised to discover that simply treating this condition with opioids, which only masks the pain, is not your only option.
Determining the Cause of the Pain
X-rays can rule out any significant problems but cannot show the soft tissue and ligament injuries that may be contributing to your lower back pain. The next step is to get better imaging of your lower back with an MRI, to determine where the pain is coming from. Once we have identified the specific pain-generating segment, then additional types of treatments can be used to target the areas that are causing the ongoing pain in your lower back. If the MRI doesn’t specifically reveal the cause of the pain, other tests may be needed that may include diagnostic blocks, such as selective nerve root blocks, medial branch blocks, discography, or surgical evaluation. The objective is to pinpoint – and treat – the cause of the pain.
Treating Chronic Intractable Back Pain Effectively
If you’ve been in pain for some time, you may believe that there is no choice but to continue living with it. However, there are a variety of innovative treatments that can help remedy your pain effectively, improving your mobility and quality of life in the process. Once the area causing the pain has been identified, a plan can be developed that includes nerve blocks, steroid injections, radio frequency ablation, orthobiologics, such as platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy, as well as many other treatments that alleviate pain, enhance mobility, and allow you to experience a better quality of life.
Don’t Settle for a Life of Pain
If you’re struggling with chronic intractable lower back pain that is impacting your mobility or quality of life, we urge you to get in touch. At Spine LLC, our focus is on giving our patients the ability to reclaim their lives through better pain management, more innovative healing therapies, and increased functional ability. We specialize in treating pain conditions with a spectrum of proven therapy options ranging from conventional procedures to the latest technology- and science-based approaches. Talk to your primary care physician today for a referral to our specialized pain management clinic and to arrange for a consultation. Let us determine which approach might be most effective for you.
Step away from chronic pain.
