Chronic Back Pain...

Chronic Back Pain is defined as any pain lasting greater than 4 months. This worst part about this condition is that it not only wears you down physically but emotionally as well. Often times the spouse suffers as well, due to having to care for the loved one with the pain and taking on additional responsibilities at home.

Chronic back pain is often seen in conditions such as spinal stenosis, herniated disks,degenerative disk disease, a person who has had back surgery, and even severe muscle spasms.

When a patient comes into the office with chronic back pain, they usually are on a wide variety of medications ranging from pain killers to muscle relaxers. The usual comment is that the medications don't make the pain go away completely, but only take the edge off. That is because the medications do not fix the cause of the problem or dysfunction within the body. When Dr. Augustine examines these patients, he is often able to find the source of the problem. When and if this can be corrected determines if there is a solution to the cause of chronic back pain.

There are some people who will require spinal injections to help with their chronic pain. If that is the case, Dr. Augustine will make a referral to a medical specialist. In addition, there are some patients that require surgical intervention with their spinal pain. Please note, this should be a last resort for your pain. Once you undergo spinal surgery, you can not turn back time. However, for a some people they don't have a choice because they let their problem or symptoms go for too long without doing anything about it. Don't make this mistake.

▪ Read more on Herniated Disks.