Over 80% of the United States population experiences back pain in their lifetime, and some end up with long-term disability and distress. Fellowship-trained interventional spine specialist Nikhil Verma, MD, of Essential Sports and Spine Solutions in Ohio, can determine what’s causing your back pain and deliver treatments that work.
In addition to conservative therapies, Dr. Verma uses state-of-the-art technologies like the Minuteman® device and iVAS® Elite balloon kyphoplasty. To benefit from advanced approaches to resolving back pain, call the office in Columbus or Marion, Ohio, today or book an appointment online.
Back Pain FAQs
There are many ways in which you could damage the tissues in your back and develop pain as a result.
Acute back pain is often due to sudden trauma that stretches or tears the muscles, connective tissues, or discs in your back. For example, falls, carrying excessive loads, moving awkwardly, incurring a sports injury, and being in a work or auto accident.
Chronic back pain is typically due to normal degenerative changes that occur as you get older. These include:
- Herniated or bulging discs
- Spinal stenosis
- Facet joint arthritis
- Degenerative disc disease
- Spondylosis
- Spondylolisthesis
- Vertebral compression fractures
With these conditions, the bones and discs gradually deteriorate over time, and the structures within your back may change as a result. For example, you might develop bone spurs if you have osteoarthritis in your spine, or ligaments might thicken and narrow the spinal canal, a common cause of spinal stenosis.
Overuse can make these conditions worse and causes inflammation that’s often responsible for a nagging backache.
If your back pain isn’t too severe or has only just started, you might feel tempted to see if it resolves itself without treatment. While some minor injuries like mild muscle strains often heal quickly with rest, anything more than that would benefit from a visit to Essential Sports and Spine Solutions.
Back pain treatments are most effective if you have an accurate diagnosis. Dr. Verma can identify the likeliest cause of your back pain and help alleviate it using effective pain management techniques.
Dr. Verma uses a combination of treatments to address back pain, which might include:
- Exercise therapy
- Massage therapy
- Physical therapy
- Pain journals
- Educational pain resources
- Trigger point injections
- Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections
- Epidural steroid injections
- Nerve blocks
- Medical marijuana
Typically, the least invasive methods are all most patients need. However, if your back pain persists, Dr. Verma offers a range of advanced interventional treatments that can help. Some of these include:
Radiofrequency ablation
Radiofrequency ablation uses heat to damage the nerve endings in your back so they can’t send pain signals to your brain.
CornerLoc™ SI Joint Stabilization System
CornerLoc helps to stabilize painful sacroiliac joints and encourages the fusion process.
Stryker’s iVAS Elite balloon kyphoplasty system
Kyphoplasty is an advanced treatment for vertebral compression fractures that raises the height of the vertebra and stabilizes it with bone cement.
Spinal cord stimulators
Spinal cord stimulation involves having a small device implanted under your skin. The device sends electric pulses to the nerves in your spine, changing pain signals into tingling sensations or switching them off altogether.
Spinal Simplicity’s Minuteman
Minuteman is an interspinous-interlaminar device that helps with spinal fusion.
To find out what’s causing your back pain and receive the right treatment, call Essential Sports and Spine Solutions or request an appointment online today.