Your back or neck pain isn’t improving. You live with constant discomfort, finding it hard to sleep, work, and enjoy life. So you schedule an appointment with Axis Spine Clinic and come in for a consultation.
And that’s when you hear something you weren’t expecting. It’s us—suggesting you think twice before getting surgery.
Conservative options: Alternatives to surgery
“I’m a surgeon, so many patients assume I’ll jump right into scheduling them for surgery,” says Dr. Craig Berg. “But at Axis Spine Clinic, we explore all available treatments for patients—including non-surgical approaches we refer to as ‘conservative options.’”
“If a patient’s situation is such that pain can be reduced and mobility restored without surgery, that’s what we’ll recommend,” says Dr. Berg. “And we’ll help patients make the most of those non-surgical options.”
Conservative options fall into three categories—and one of them might be the solution to giving you back a pain-free life.
Conservative Option 1: Physical Therapy
Studies show that about 75 percent of people with chronic neck or back pain feel better with physical therapy—no additional treatment or surgery is required. The underlying cause of the pain may not be resolved, but surgery can be avoided, sometimes indefinitely.
“Our first step is evaluating whether physical therapy will provide relief,” says Dr. Berg. “If so, that’s the direction we’ll go. If the pain is caused by a degenerative or trauma-related issue and surgery is unavoidable, we’ll still look at how physical therapy can accelerate recovery time.”
Conservative Option 2: Pain Management
When every step you take is agony, your top priority quickly becomes: Make It Stop Hurting. That’s why you—and most people who suffer from back and neck pain—reach out to us at Axis Spine Clinic.
And good news: There are several non-surgical ways to address your pain.
• Spinal Injections deliver medication directly to areas of the spine impacted by trauma, disintegration, or inflammation. Specific medications vary, depending on the precise cause of your pain. Spinal injections are sometimes an effective treatment for herniated discs, irritated nerves, or spinal stenosis (a narrowing of the channel through which the spinal cord passes).
• Epidural Steroid Injections deliver anti-inflammatory medication into the epidural space around your spinal cord. This thin space runs the length of your spine, and well-placed injections can greatly relieve pain, at least temporarily.
• Steroids are man-made hormones that assist your body in reducing inflammation and swelling. When used to reduce pain in the back, the medication is most often given in the form of pills or injections. Steroids are a powerful drug, but, administered carefully and for a relatively short time, they can provide relief and an opportunity for inflamed nerves to heal.
• Ultrasound Therapy is heat therapy using sound waves that pass through your skin and impact your back muscles and spinal structures. The gentle rise in heat not only provides soothing relief at the moment, but the therapy also helps heal injuries and speed the recovery of injured muscles.
• Spinal Cord Stimulators are reserved for patients whose pain can’t be managed through other therapies. A device is surgically implanted that sends gentle electrical pulses directly into your spine through thin, strategically placed wires. The pulses interfere with pain signals your nerves transmit to your brain, easing your suffering because while you’re experiencing pain, you can’t feel it.
If one of these approaches to pain management looks promising, we’ll refer you to a pain management specialist. That physician will work with you to fine-tune a treatment plan to bring you relief.
Conservative Option 3: Alternative Treatments
The term “alternative treatments” can include a wide range of interventions, but those we’ve seen provide pain relief for some patients include:
• Chiropractic Care primarily treats back and neck pain by manually manipulating the spine and other joints to bring them into ideal alignment. The thinking is that doing so enhances your body’s ability to heal itself, as well as reducing pain. A chiropractor may also help you avoid future misalignments by teaching you healthier ways to stretch, exercise, and create ergonomically correct environments.
• Therapeutic Massage goes far beyond that soothing spa massage you enjoyed on vacation. Rather than focus just on relaxation and stress reduction, a massage therapist will target specific muscles, joints, and tissues related to your pain points. You may experience a deep tissue massage, trigger point therapy, or a series of stretches, all to reduce your pain.
• Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese practice that involves inserting thin needles into specific areas of your body. According to acupuncturists, this stimulates healing by balancing energy flow through your body. Though Western medicine can’t fully explain why this would prompt healing, there’s evidence it influences the release of hormones, and we’ve had patients find the experience helpful.
Treatment provided by these medical professionals will be more effective if you can bring them the results of the comprehensive examination we’ll give you. That information will help them pinpoint how to best treat your neck or back without causing any additional stress or damage.
How Do Conservative Options Work?
“These alternative treatments are best when used as adjunct treatments,” says Dr. Berg. “I don’t typically prescribe them as standalone treatments as they often provide the best results when used in conjunction with either physical therapy, pain management, or injections.
“And here in Columbus, we have some excellent caregivers who provide chiropractic care, therapeutic massage, and acupuncture. We can help connect you with capable professionals in each of these disciplines.”
Of course, in some situations, surgery is the best course of treatment. When that’s the case, Axis Spine Clinic is happy to provide you with everything you need from diagnosis to treatment plan to surgery to recovery care.
If ongoing back or neck pain is making life challenging, give us a call at 614-468-5333.
Together we’ll chart a course back to the life you’d rather lead—one that’s pain-free.