When you are experiencing back pain, it might seem like the end of the world. However, a feasible solution is usually available. There are also some situations when doing nothing is the best option. Most Huntington back pain patients can see most cases resolved independently within a few days to a few weeks. There are conservative, non-surgical therapy options for every cause of back pain, even when the pain progresses from acute to subacute to chronic. You may sometimes address back pain without surgery, but it can be difficult to tell whether that is the case.
Surgery may be a possibility if you are having trouble functioning because of your back discomfort and previous therapies haven’t helped. Here is how you can determine whether or not you are a candidate for back surgery:
1. Conservative or conventional treatments have been ineffective.
Generally, back pain should be treated non-surgically first (outside of urgent or emergency circumstances). While surgery can be successful, it is intrusive, has a lengthy recovery period, and has the usual dangers associated with any surgical procedure. Surgery is also the most expensive choice.
It will help if you always try physical therapy, medicines (painkillers or anti-inflammatories), changes in your lifestyle, and other conservative therapies first. But not everyone responds well to these therapies, particularly those with an obvious mechanical or structural issue with their spine. If non-invasive treatments have failed to alleviate your back pain, you and your doctor may wish to examine surgical alternatives.
2. Pain that shoots down the arms and into the legs.
Pain radiating from one area to another is called radiculopathy, which usually indicates that a spinal nerve root is compressed. Surgery is often a lifesaver in these circumstances. Herniated discs or bone spurs often bring on radiculopathy. There is a shock-absorbing disc between each vertebra in the spine. In a herniation, the inner layer protrudes through the outer layer. When a herniated disc pushes on a nerve root, you may feel pain wherever that nerve supplies the body.
Conversely, bone spurs develop when the spine has osteoarthritis. Damage to the smooth articular cartilage that lines the ends of bones in a joint is the cause of osteoarthritis. Bone spurs, sometimes called osteophytes, may occur when cartilage in spinal joints wears away, allowing bone to rub against bone. The pressure on the nerve and radiculopathy might be from the bone spurs pressing on the spinal cord or nerve roots.
Even in severe instances of radiculopathy, non-surgical methods are often explored first. However, surgery is a very successful method of treating radiculopathy. Most operations, such as a discectomy, relieve pressure on the spinal cord and nerves, whereas laminectomy is necessary for enlarging the spinal canal.
3. Constant, unrelenting pain.
Acute back pain usually lasts for a few days up to a week. In addition, past research has shown that most lower back pain instances improve within a month. That may be welcome news for someone who is now free from back pain. Those few weeks may seem like an eternity if you have problems sitting, standing, walking, or sleeping comfortably. Furthermore, if the discomfort has persisted for more than two weeks, it is understandable that the idea of back surgery may have entered your thoughts.
After exhausting less intrusive methods of relieving your back pain, surgery may be the next best choice to consider with your doctor. Please don’t suffer unnecessarily.
