Your back pain is severe. You can’t get enough relief to carry out your normal daily tasks, never mind playing your favorite sport or engaging in your favorite hobby if it involves moving.
Our caring staff at Apollo Pain Management in Bradenton and Sun City Center, Florida, has special expertise in diagnosing and treating severe and chronic pain. We’re here to get to the root of your medical condition and bring you back to health.
Following are five common causes of severe lower back pain.
Herniated disc
You have a spinal disc between each of the vertebrae in your spinal column. The disc provides a cushion between the bones to keep them apart. Each disc has a strong outer casing and a soft core, called the nucleus.
Through normal wear and tear and the aging process or a sudden force on your back (for example, from lifting a heavy object), the inner soft core of the disc can squeeze out through a tear in the outer casing. Now you have a herniated disc. The displaced part of the disc inevitably puts pressure on a nerve, causing your pain, which can be severe.
Spinal stenosis
If you have a diagnosis of spinal stenosis, the space inside your spinal column has narrowed to the point that your spinal cord and/or nerves have become compressed. Wear and tear from arthritis can cause spinal stenosis.
Sciatica
If you’ve ever had sciatica, you know how painful nerve compression can be. You have a pinched or compressed nerve in your back if you have sciatica; it might have come from a herniated disc.
Sciatica causes pain to move down one of your legs. You can experience muscle weakness and/or numbness or a sharp burning pain.
Arthritis
Your lower back pain could be caused by osteoarthritis in your spine. You have small joints between each vertebra in your spine called facet joints. When your facet joints are arthritic, you can experience more friction between your vertebrae as protective cartilage wears away.
There are over 100 kinds of arthritis. You could have an inflammatory type of arthritis that causes your vertebrae and sacroiliac joints to become swollen and painful.
Compression fracture
If you have severe back pain, you may have a compression fracture. One of your vertebrae has cracked. When that happens, the bone loses its normal height and puts excess pressure on the surrounding discs and vertebrae.
Compression fractures are fairly common in those over 50 and especially in women. You’re more likely to get a compression fracture if you have osteoporosis, because your bones have become less dense and more brittle.
Treatment for severe lower back pain
Your treatment depends in part on your diagnosis. We can provide an epidural steroid injection to ease your immediate pain. We develop a treatment plan based on your individual situation and medical history. If you have a severe compression fracture, we perform a kyphoplasty, a minimally invasive procedure to strengthen your weakened vertebrae.
Call Apollo Pain Management or request an appointment through our online portal today. Modern medicine provides solutions for severe lower back pain.