Non Operative Management of Backpain – An Overview

With changing lifestyles, backpain is becoming more and more common. While there are many causes of back pain and when identifiable should  be treated accordingly, many a times no identifiable cause of back pain can be found.and  patients suffer from mechanical back pain.

Time heals a lot of low back pain problems. In fact most of the symptoms associated with lumbar disc diseases are self limiting and will go away spontaneously whether or not a doctor, physical therapist or a chiropractor is involved.

Therefore non operative measures to deal with back pain should be first line of treatment if there is no contraindication to it. Three are many considerations involved before initiating the treatment.

• Is there a soft tissue syndrome?
• Is the pain  discogenic  or because of disc?
• Is there a pressure on the nerve root?
• Are multiple roots involved [as in caudaequina syndrome which is a kind of emergency and needs surgical treatment]
• Is an accurate diagnosis?
• Do we know the anatomical level?
• Is the patient is accurately reporting the disability or there is some medicolegal or compensation objective?
• What are the functional limitations of the patient?

Management Strategies

The components of a conservative management program for low back pain patients are:

• Rest and controlled physical activity
• Physical therapy
  • Ice
  • Heat
  • Exercises
  • Manipulation, mobilization and massage

• Orthosis
• Traction
• Drug Therapy
• Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation [TENS]
• Trigger point injections
• Epidural steroids
• Education

Related posts:

1. Failed Back Surgery Syndrome
2. What Is Spondylosis?
3. Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis
4. Posterior Ramus Syndrome – Thoracolumbar Junction Syndrome
5. List of Causes Of Back Pain