Back pain can be acute, meaning it lasts just a few days or weeks, or chronic, lasting three months or longer. The pain may be dull and aching, or sharp and knife-like.

You may experience back pain due to any number of reasons. Often, you can pinpoint an incident that caused your pain, such as an accident or lifting something heavy. These may result in a temporary sprain or strain. Back pain can also occur due to:

• Sedentary lifestyle
• Changes in the spine due to aging, such as disc degeneration
• Narrowing of the spinal column, known as stenosis
• Disc slippage or herniation
• Genetic conditions and skeletal irregularities, such as scoliosis and lordosis
• Poor posture
• Radiculopathy, when compression of the spinal nerve root results in pain and tingling
• Facet joint syndrome when you experience pain at the joint between two vertebrae

Conservative treatment for back pain include over-the-counter or prescription medications, physical therapy, strengthening exercises, activity (bed rest is counterproductive in most cases of back pain) and hot and cold therapy. When these treatments fail to help you find relief, Dr. Parmar may recommend specific injections and other more advanced therapies.

You may find more relief for your back pain from injections which deliver medication directly to the point of pain, rather than dispersing pain relief throughout your body, diluting its effect. Dr. Parmar offers a number of different injections and recommends each according to the reason for your back pain. Injections that Dr. Parmar utilizes include:

• Epidural steroid injections: provide relief for several months and may be repeated over the course of a year
• SI joint injections: apply numbing relief to the sacroiliac joint that connects the sacrum with the hip
• Trigger point injections: relieve back pain due to extremely tight muscles
• Facet injections: address the small joints that are located at the backside of your neck
• Transforaminal injections: long-acting steroids to reduce inflammation and swelling to limt pain

Radiofrequency ablation reduces pain by heating up nerve tissue with an electrical current, which ultimately decreases the pain signals of that nerve. It’s a minimally invasive procedure performed under light sedation. Dr. Parmar numbs the treatment area and inserts a needle through which a small amount of electrical current passes. You may have several nerves treated with radiofrequency ablation.

It’s best for patients with chronic low back and neck pain, especially when due to arthritis.

You don’t have to live with debilitating back pain any longer. Call or book an appointment online today to learn more.