Treating Back Pain Without Surgery

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How Does Physical Therapy Help Back Pain?

In physical therapy, a trained therapist experienced with back pain or neck pain will conduct an assessment to help pinpoint areas of weakness. Your therapist will then prescribe you a series of exercises to be performed on a daily basis. Your therapist will demonstrate the exercises and have you practice them so that they can make sure you are doing them correctly.

These exercises help strengthen the muscles, ligaments, and tendons that support the spine to help relieve pressure that is causing pain. You also might be given some exercise to either compensate for a hurt or weak back, or to avoid hurting your back.

If you are prescribed physical therapy for your back pain or neck pain, you will most likely need to meet with your therapist at least once a week for several weeks to ensure you are performing the exercises properly, to check your progress, and to add exercises as needed. Most likely, you will need to perform the exercises at home on a daily basis.

Steroid Injections for Back Pain

Epidural steroid injections are a common treatment for spine pain. If these are recommended, your back doctor may refer you to a pain specialist who will inject a steroid, such as cortisone, into the epidural space around your spine. The steroid suppresses inflammation and calms nerves, which in turn helps reduce your back pain or neck pain. This is one of several types of procedures that the back doctors at Penn Highlands Brain and Spine Center may order to relieve back pain and neck pain. Read more about injections and other pain relief procedures.