At Home Christian Jessen 2014 - 135

BACK PAIN CAN BE THE
RESULT OF ANOTHER
UNDERLYING DISEASE

| SURGICAL SOLUTIONS|

Your ﬁtness Back pain is more
common in people who aren't
physically active
Your career A job that involves
pushing, pulling and lifting on a
regular basis may cause a back
injury or strain. Similarly, if you're
sitting wrongly day in, day out, at a
desk job, you're likely to experience
back pain in the long-term
Smoking Not only can
smoking prevent enough nutrients
getting to the discs in your back,
a smoker's cough can also cause
back pain. Healing also takes longer
in smokers, so your pain may last
longer than a non-smoker
Your genes Some conditions
that lead to back pain are genetically
inherited - for example, ankylosing
spondylitis, a form of arthritis that
aﬀects the spine
Other diseases Back pain can
sometimes be the result of another
underlying disease, such as cancer

WORDS: JO WILLACY | PHOTOGRAPHS: GETTY IMAGES

B E F O R E YOU
C O N SI DER S U R GERY

Surgery for back pain is usually
regarded as a last resort, due to its
serious and often invasive nature
(see New Approaches To Back Surgery,
pg 137). According to Dr Dan
Plev, a neurosurgeon at the London
Spine Clinic, 'Many patients can
reduce their back pain by building
up core stability in their torso and,
in turn, increasing support for the
spine. Surgery doesn't always need
to be considered, as there are other
options available.' Your doctor is
likely to consider surgery as an
option only if other treatments
have failed. These may include:
Pain management For longterm back pain, there are several
options. If a trapped or inﬂamed
nerve in your spinal column is the
cause of your back pain, a nerve
root block can oﬀer relief. A steroid
or anaesthetic is injected into your
back. This has to be in exactly
the right place in your spine to be
eﬀective, so the procedure is done
under X-ray or computerised
tomography (CT) scan guidance.
Another option is 'facet joint
injections', which also use steroid
or anaesthetic injections. The
facet joints connect one vertebra
to another in order to keep your
spine aligned, and these joints can
be aﬀected by arthritis, leading to

pain. However, this procedure is
not eﬀective for everyone
Physiotherapy According to
a study cited by the Chartered
Society of Physiotherapy, 80% of
patients who had physiotherapy
treatment for back pain were
able to carry on working, rather
than taking time oﬀ. Treatments
may be manual - given with the
hands - or may involve acupuncture.
Your physiotherapist will advise
you on exercises to do at home
Osteopathy Another form of
manual therapy used to treat lower
back pain. Techniques include soft
tissue manipulation, stretches and
high velocity thrust (HVT), where
joints are clicked to ease movement
Chiropractic This manual
therapy involves the manipulation
of the spine. As with any of the
manual therapies, you should have
a course of at least nine sessions
over a period of up to 12 weeks
Antidepressants Certain
antidepressants, such as amitriptyline,
can be eﬀective for easing persistent
pain. If you're prescribed these,
your dose will be very low
Cognitive behavioural
therapy (CBT) Living with >

CONDITIONS THAT
MAY REQUIRE SURGERY

Most back surgery is performed on the
lower back - known as the lumbar spine
(as opposed to the cervical spine, which is at
the back of your neck). Certain conditions
or injuries may not respond to other pain
relief treatments and surgery may be
considered the best solution. These include:
A SLIPPED DISC OR SCIATICA This is
where a disc is damaged and pressing on
a nerve. The pain is not always felt in the
back, but may affect one or both legs.
SPINAL STENOSIS This occurs when part of
your spinal column narrows, placing pressure
on the nerves in that area.
SPINAL INJURIES
If the spine is fractured
and the tissue around
your spinal cord swells.
METASTATIC SPINAL
CORD COMPRESSION
This is where cancer
elsewhere in the body,
such as the lungs,
spreads to the spine
and presses on the
spinal cord or nerves.

www.athomemagazine.co.uk JULY 2014 | 135
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At Home Christian Jessen 2014

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