What the X-Rays Show

Usually, if the doctor decides he or she needs to actually look at the bones of the spine, an X-ray is ordered.  But even if you get an x-ray that doesn’t mean you’ll suddenly have all the answers.  The x-ray can only show bones and not muscles, tendons or ligaments.  So if your back pain is not due to broken bones, slipped vertebrae  or other bone problems the x-ray is pretty much useless.  Some doctors just skip right to the MRI or CAT scan instead.

Taking x-rays has been such a routine practice for so long now it’s probably ordered sometimes more out of habit.  As the new procedures become more widely used I would expect the x-ray to be used less and less for back pain diagnosis purposes.    Of course, x-rays are good from the viewpoint they are often done right in the doctors’ offices now, are painless and give speedy results.  Just don’t be too disappointed when you don’t find out the first trip what’s causing your pain.

Go Ahead and Shock Me

When I think of electrical stimulation I can’t help but think of the old Frankenstein movies.  Yet electrical stimulation is used as one of the treatments for back therapy.  Of course, it’s been given a long medical name which is Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation or TENS.  It makes me want to ask which came first – the acronym or the name.

This is how TENS works.  A physical therapist uses special medical equipment that can dish up low level electricity directed to the muscle through electrodes on the skin.  The whole point of the treatment is to make your brain forget about pain for a while and think about the electrical stimulation.  This can be a great temporary solution, but it won’t last.  It’s good for those people who really need a break from the pain, but don’t consider it an answer to your back pain problems.

An MRI Anyone?

It seems like every time I watch the news concerning healthy living updates I hear the acronym MRI.   It’s treated in people’s mind like it’s an X-ray, but it really is something completely different.  People with back pain often get an MRI when the doctor is trying to figure out what’s causing the problem.  An MRI shows a lot more than an X-ray.

MRI actually stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging.  It uses radio waves and a magnetic field to create a clear picture of your spine.  Some people don’t like to get an MRI, because you have to lie still in a long tube that’s open at both ends.  It can be hard to handle if you have any claustrophobia.  The newer machines are now made with some added features such as music intended to be distracting.  The MRI can be a real important test when trying to diagnose the source of back pain.  If the doctor wants you to have one, you should agree because it gives a lot more information about soft tissue which doesn’t show up on X-rays.

I’m In So Much Pain!

The doctor labels pain according to how long it lasts and how often it occurs.  They do this so they can determine which is the best diagnostic tool and the best treatment to use.  The categories can get a little blurry at times though.  For example, acute pain can be recurrent pain.

The first kind of pain is acute pain. Acute pain is pain that usually lasts less than one month.  The level of pain depends upon what caused the pain. The worse the injury, the more it hurts.  Chronic pain is pain that lasts longer than 3 to 6 months.  You don’t even have to have an injury still healing for the pain to continue.  Intermittent or recurrent pain is acute pain that happens over and over again.

There are lots of pain therapies used for the different levels of pain.  You can do some at home while others require a doctor.  When you go to the doctor, he or she is going to classify your pain after getting a history or your pain episodes.

Such a Pain in the Neck

Lots of people go to chiropractors looking for relief from back pain.  If you’ve ever wondered what goes on in a chiropractor’s office, you’re not alone.  Basically the chiropractor tries to relieve the pressure and compression in a spine that’s resulted from tension, strain or even injury.    Stress is a more frequent cause of back pain than people believe.

Spine compression can be really painful.  When the vertebrae in the back compress, they can press on nerves.  When a nerve is pinched, the pain can be ongoing and debilitating.  You can get a lot more than a back ache too when this happens.  You can get headaches or neck pain that keeps you from moving normally.  Chiropractors use manual pressure near and on the spine to decompress the vertebrae and loosen any tight muscles and ligaments.  You can supplement your chiropractor visits with some stretching exercises at home to keep your back nice and limber.