Low Back Pain Treatments: Overview

Many cases of low back pain can be linked to a general cause (such as muscle strain) or a specific and diagnosable condition (such as degenerative disc disease or a lumbar herniated disc). If no known anatomical cause can be found for the pain, the patient’s pain is real and needs to be treated.

Many patients with low back pain wonder if they will need back surgery. While episodes of low back pain can cause significant disruption in one’s life, most episodes of low back pain will improve with time (about 2 to 12 weeks) and non-surgical care. When surgery is needed, it is almost always an elective procedure, meaning that it is the patient’s decision whether or not to have the surgery.

For most instances of low back pain, it’s advisable to start with a physical exam by a primary care physician or from a chiropractor before visiting a spine surgeon.

Low back pain treatment

For most people back pain tends to get better within two weeks to three months. During this time period that an episode of back pain is resolving, or if the back pain is chronic, it is important to consider the appropriate course of treatment in order to:

• reduce pain and spasm
• provide rehabilitation for the back
• assist in managing issues frequently associated with back pain, such as sleeplessness or depression

Treatment options are considered "conservative" when they are non-invasive (such as medication) or much less invasive (such as injections) than surgery. In general, surgery for lower back pain is considered if these treatments fail and the lower back pain (or leg pain) persists for an extended period of time.

For those patients who have back pain, but an anatomical reason cannot be found, surgery is not advisable and conservative treatment is the only recommended course of action. Non-surgical treatment is not the first option of choice is if the patient loses bowel or bladder control, or develops progressive weakness in the legs — these symptoms constitute a medical emergency and require immediate surgery. However, surgical emergencies for back pain are extremely rare and most episodes of back pain can be treated without surgery.

At the onset of lower back pain it is generally advisable to try one or two days of bed rest to decrease muscle spasm and allow the back to rest. More extensive bed rest is not recommended because it leads to further weakening of the muscles that provide critical support for the spine.

In addition to initial bed rest, either one or a combination of several conservative treatment options is often recommended in order to alleviate pain and rehabilitate the lower back.

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