Back Pain in The Woodlands, TX
Back pain can be a major life disrupter. If you find yourself dealing with back problems regularly, or your pain is severe, you may be wondering whether it’s necessary to turn to an orthopedic surgeon for care. Here at Houston Advanced Spine, our board-certified orthopedic surgeon Dr. Thomas Cartwright and his team have been providing expert and effective back pain treatment for more than two decades.
Lifestyle Factors that Contribute to Back Pain
Many factors can contribute to back pain. These factors include,
- Age
- Pregnancy
- Obesity or being overweight
- Poor posture
- Improper lifting technique
- Weak abdominal muscles
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Mental illness
Causes of Back Pain
It’s important to recognize when back pain may be a sign of a more serious underlying disorder or condition. Some of the most common causes of back pain that we see at our practice include,
- Disc degeneration (often in older adults)
- Herniated discs
- Ruptured discs
- Sciatica
- Sprains and strains
- Spinal stenosis
- Injuries and accidents
Turning to an Orthopedic Surgeon
Our orthopedic team specializes in diagnosing, treating, and managing a wide range of conditions, injuries, and diseases that impact the musculoskeletal system as a whole (this includes everything from the bones and muscles to the tendons, ligaments, and nerves). We offer a wide range of diagnostic tests and tools such as CT scans and X-rays that can pinpoint the root cause of your back pain so that our surgeon, Dr. Cartwright, can get to work crafting your individualized treatment plan. We will focus on providing conservative and non-surgical treatment options to see if they are effective at treating and alleviating back pain. The treatment options we offer include everything from physical therapy to nerve blocks, depending on the cause and severity of your back pain. We also work together with local and trusted pain management specialists that we can refer you to for injections.
When Conservative Care Fails
There are instances when back pain just cannot be properly controlled through conservative and nonsurgical treatment options. When this happens, it’s important to have an orthopedic surgeon that you trust to let you know when surgery may be the next best option. Here are just some of the surgical options that Dr. Cartwright and his team offer,
- Spinal decompression (also known as a laminectomy) to treat spinal stenosis
- Microdiscectomy to remove herniated discs and to treat compressed nerves of the spinal column
- Spinal fusion to remove vertebrae to treat issues such as degenerative disc disease
- Artificial disc replacement to replace severely damaged discs with artificial discs