How Exercise Helps Back Pain Physiotherapy exercises for back pain can strengthen your back, stomach and leg muscles and support your spine, relieving back pain. An exercise program for nonspecific chronic back pain must target muscular strength, flexibility and aerobic fitness. Core muscular strength can assist in lumbar spine support, flexibility improves range of motion and movement and aerobics increases blood flow and nutrients to the soft tissues of the back.  Exercise stretches, repairs and strengthens the muscles of the back. Increased blood flow and nutrients improve the healing ..read more

5 Activities to Do While Recovering From Back Pain When you’re recovering from back pain, you should only engage in activities that will provide you relief. As your back heals, you’ll want to focus on the following activities to aid your back pain recovery: 1. Apply Ice and Heat  If you just started experiencing back pain, use ice for the first day or two to reduce the inflammation. Once you’ve used ice for a while, you can switch to heat, which will help alleviate painful symptoms. You can even alternate between ice and heat, rotating them as needed to help you with your inflammation and ..read more

Benefits of Swimming for Back Pain Swimming can relieve back pain by alleviating pressure on your joints, increasing back strength and more. Here are five specific benefits of swimming for back pain. 1. Reduces Pressure on Your Joints Whenever you put an object or body in water, it will have some buoyant force that resists gravity and decreases its weight. Thus, the buoyancy of water reduces the body weight the joints in your spine support. That’s why swimming and other aquatic exercises are easier on your joints than land-based exercise. Exercising in water is an ideal way to increa ..read more

Top 5 Alternatives to Spine Fusion Surgery Seeking a second opinion from an expert spine surgeon who specializes in fusion alternative, less invasive surgeries can help clarify your pain generator, diagnosis, and alternative options available. Many times, a spine fusion is not the best first spinal surgery to pursue. Spinal fusion is a valid and effective solution for the right indicated patients. Cervical Disc Replacement (CDR) Cervical Disc Replacement (CDR), especially in the cervical spine, is an excellent alternative to a fusion. Like a fusion, artificial disc replacement alleviates n ..read more

What Is an Endoscopic Rhizotomy? To explain an endoscopic rhizotomy, it’s perhaps helpful to define each word. Let’s start with rhizotomy. A rhizotomy is a surgical procedure where a spinal surgeon severs or removes the medial branch nerve, which extends from the nerve roots of the spinal cord. Medial branch nerves have many functions within the brain and nervous system, including sending pain signals from the facet joints to the brain. At times, these pain signal carrying nerves malfunction and cause reduced quality of life for patients. If your medial branch nerves are sending excessi ..read more

How to Alleviate Back and Neck Discomfort Before, During and After a Flight Flying with a herniated disc or other neck and back pain symptoms can make each trip uncomfortable for hours on end. A decrease in air pressure, crowded cabins and little to no support for your back can make traveling long distances a troublesome journey. Luckily, there are a few tips for flying with back and neck pain that you can try to make traveling easier on your body and mind. Simple changes such as investing in some neck support for flying and doing airplane stretches during the trip will allow a smooth transit ..read more

Before You Hit the Road The drive is one of the most important things to plan for from a back pain relief perspective. Since you’ll be sitting for an extended period, you’ll want to take care of your back on the long drive. Here are some back pain relief tips when you’re in the planning stage of your road trip.  1. Purchase Helpful Accessories If you have some room in your trip budget, it may be worthwhile to invest in accessories that support your spine as you travel. Here are some accessories you may consider purchasing: Memory foam pad Air-filled seat cushions Ergonomic backrest Neck ..read more

How Can Your Diet Affect Back Pain? Your diet plays a role in your immune system’s strength and promoting or discouraging inflammation. In the U.S., 39% of adults reported experiencing either mechanical or non-specific back pain. Mechanical back pain is traceable to the spine, including the discs and surrounding tissues. Non-specific back pain — pain that neither you nor your provider can conclusively find the cause of — is often linked to chronic inflammation.  What Causes Inflammation? When you have an injury or infection, your immune system sends white blood cells to the ..read more

What Causes Neck Pain? To understand neck pain, its causes and potential treatment options, it’s important to understand the neck’s unique anatomy. The neck is also referred to as the cervical spine, and it consists of the spine’s first seven vertebrae. Spinal nerve roots are connected to the rest of the body through several holes in each of the cervical spine’s vertebra.  Each vertebra in the spine is connected to the next via facet joints and a connective tissue disc containing a gelatinous substance known as nucleus pulposus. Discs support proper spine alignment, and they provide ..read more

What Are the Causes and Symptoms of Facet Joint Syndrome? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), lower back pain causes more disability worldwide than any other condition. Acute back pain typically lasts less than four weeks, and chronic back pain persists longer than 12 weeks. Facet joint syndrome can cause both acute and chronic back pain.  A chain of connected and moveable bones known as vertebrae make up the spine. The spine is able to bend and twist while the bones remain linked together because each vertebra contains a disc and two facet joints ..read more