Educate Yourself About Chronic Back Pain And Treatment

Living with chronic back pain is hard, but we want to educate you more about different conditions and treatments.

Back Pain Causes

When it comes to chronic back pain, the main causes are the following:

1. Muscle/Ligament Strain: this comes from awkward, or repeated, movements that put strain onto your back. This strain can cause extremely painful muscle spasms.

2. Bulging/Ruptured Discs: we all have disks in our spines that are cushions between bones. When these discs are damaged, they can cause back pain.

3. Arthritis: usually you will hear of arthritis in the hands, however, arthritis can have a big impact on your lower back. This arthritis can lead to a condition called spinal stenosis which is a narrowing of the space around the spinal cord.

Treatments

Unfortunately, chronic back pain is not something that has a fast fix. However, there are some great treatment options:

1. Physical Therapy and Chiropractic Therapy: using both of these therapies through a professional will help your back pain greatly.

2. Lifestyle Changes: changing some of your lifestyle choices can really help with chronic back pain - this can include adding more exercise.

3. Injection-based Treatments: these are injections that your doctor can use to help stop pain temporarily by blocking certain nerve pathways.

Neck Pain Causes, Symptoms, And Treatments

Have you been suffering from neck pain lately and are wondering what could be causing it? Learn more below.

Causes

Worn Joints - neck pain can stem from worn neck joints which can come from aging. This happens when the cartilage between your bones deteriorates, causing your bones to rub off one another which can cause extreme pain.

Muscle Strains - a lot of neck pain comes from the muscles in the neck being strained from overuse. We overuse these muscles by looking down at our cellphones or sitting with bad posture at the computer. Smalls things like reading in bed can also strain the muscles.

Injuries - any type of injury where the head is jerked around will have a bad impact on the neck, causing strain and pain.

Symptoms

• Muscle tightness
• Pain when moving head
• Headaches

Treatments

Physical Therapy - PT, along with exercise and doing the proper stretches, will help your neck pain greatly.

Injections - Your doctor may use corticosteroid injections for quick relief, but not for long-term therapy.

Neck Collar - It may be suggested to use a neck collar to help from moving your neck too much, giving it time to heal strained muscles.

Nerve Pain Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments

Do you suffer from nerve pain? Read below for more information on the causes, symptoms, and treatments for nerve pain.

Causes

There are many things that can cause nerve pain, however, the most common causes are:

1. Disease - nerve pain can come as a symptom of many different diseases or illnesses. These include Myeloma, Multiple Sclerosis, long-term alcoholism, Diabetes, and Fibromyalgia.

2. Injuries - Although injuries can heal, if they cause damage to the nervous system it is likely that it may not heal those nerves. 

3. Infection - Rarely does infection lead to nerve pain, but certain cases of Shingles can cause nerve pain for weeks. Along with Shingles, Syphilis and HIV can also lead to unexplained nerve pain.

Symptoms

Symptoms of nerve pain can vary, but there are some common symptoms:

• Tingling or numbness (pins and needles)
• Spontaneous pain - without a trigger
• Difficulty sleeping
• The chronic sensation of feeling abnormal
• Shooting, stabbing pain

Treatments

Medication - both over the counter and prescription. This is at the discretion of your doctor, what they feel is best for you.

Nerve Blockers - a temporary treatment that can block nerve pathways by an injection administered by your doctor.

Multimodal Therapy - a prolonged approach that uses a combination of physical therapy, psychological treatment, medications, and any other treatments that your doctor feels will help with your pain.

Joint Pain Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments

Are you suffering from joint pain? Read below to learn about the causes, symptoms, and treatments for joint pain.

Causes

There are many things that can cause joint pain ranging from:

• Injury to the ligaments and tendons surrounding a particular joint
• Joint inflammation from arthritis or osteoporosis
• Some sexually transmitted infections like Chlamydia and Gonorrhea
• Tears in the cartilage of a joint
• Bone cancer (of course, this is the rarest cause)

Symptoms

There are quite a few symptoms that can come about from joint pain. The following are just a few symptoms.

In the joint:

• Swelling
• Redness
• Tenderness
• Warmth

General symptoms:

• The joint locking into place
• A loss of the range of motion that the joint could usually perform
• Weakness in that area
• Stiffness in the area

Treatments

Hot and Cold Therapy - To help with inflammation of the joints, your doctor may use hot and cold treatments to ease your pain.

Acupuncture - Your doctor may suggest using acupuncture to help with joint pain as the risk of harm is very low.

Medications - There are some over the counter as well as prescribed medications that can help with pain in your joints.

Injections - For the short term, your doctor may use injections to help with pain relief.

Muscle Pain Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments

Muscle pain can become debilitating. Read on to learn more about the causes, symptoms, and treatments for muscle pain and injuries.

Causes

Muscle pain can usually be easily explained, however, there are some medical conditions that also cause muscle pain.

Common causes:

• Overusing muscles during physical activity
• Injuring the muscle
• Muscle tension

Medical conditions:

• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Infections - the flu, bacterial infections
• Autoimmune disorders - lupus, dermatomyositis
• Certain medications or drugs - ACE inhibitors, cocaine
• Thyroid problems - hypo or hyperthyroidism
• Having low potassium (hypokalemia)

Symptoms

Muscle pain is not usually something to worry about, however, here are some symptoms you could have that may be a sign to see the doctor:

• Pain doesn't go away after a couple of days of home treatment
• Muscle pain that comes out of nowhere
• A rash that accompanies the muscle pain
• Pain that comes soon after changing medication

Treatments

If your muscle pain is enough to drive you to the doctor, some treatments that they may consider are:

• Physical Therapy - doing PT will teach you new stretches and ways to help your sore muscles
• Cupping Therapy - this is the practice of using heated suction cups which helps blood flow to targeted muscles
• Platelet-Rich Plasma - a therapy that uses your own platelets to accelerate the healing of muscles.