How your orthopedic surgeon in The Woodlands, TX, can help with neck and back pain
Pain in your neck and back can keep you from being active, which can lead to all sorts of health issues. Whether the pain is acute and comes on suddenly or is chronic and has been around for a long time, it’s time to get relief.
Dr. Thomas Cartwright at Houston Advanced Spine, in The Woodlands, TX, provides a wide range of orthopedic medical services, including treatment of neck and back pain.
If you suffer from neck and back pain, you need to know the facts about causes and treatments. Let’s look at a few frequently asked questions and answers about neck and back pain:
What are some main causes of neck and back pain?
Accidents are a main cause of pain in your neck and back. If you are in a car accident, your body can be suddenly jolted in one direction, resulting in whiplash and other injuries.
Sports and activity injuries are another cause of neck and back pain. When you are active, it’s easy to overuse muscles, tendons, and ligaments, causing strain.
Poor posture and bad body mechanics can cause chronic pain in your neck and back, due to poor neck and back alignment.
Chronic, degenerative conditions like arthritis can lead to pain in your spinal column and joints.
What are some common ways an orthopedic surgeon treats back and neck pain?
Your orthopedic surgeon will diagnose the cause of your neck and back pain, using a variety of imaging, including a CT scan, x-rays, and an MRI.
After a diagnosis is made, conservative treatment is tried first. Conservative treatment options include:
- Physical therapy exercises to strengthen your neck and back
- Nerve blocks to block pain in your neck and back
- Pain management including medication therapy
If you continue to have neck and back pain after conservative treatments, it may be time to consider surgery. Surgical treatments for neck and back pain include:
- Spinal decompression surgery, known as a laminectomy
- Microdiscectomy to remove herniated discs and alleviate pressure on spinal nerves
- Spinal fusion to remove vertebrae which are pinching on spinal nerves
- Artificial disc replacement to replace damaged discs
You deserve to live an active life, free of neck and back pain. Your orthopedic surgeon can make it happen. To learn more about neck and back pain, and how your doctor can help, call Dr. Thomas Cartwright at Houston Advanced Spine, in The Woodlands, TX. You can reach him in the office by calling (281) 305-9533, so call now.