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What is Facet Joint Arthritis?

Facet joint arthritis is a very common cause of low back and neck pain in adults.  It is a condition in which the small joints, called facets, in the back of the spine become arthritic and painful, similar to the way arthritis in the knee or hip is painful. Facet joint arthritis is also known as facet arthropathy or spondylosis.

What are Facet Joints?

Facet joints connect the vertebral bodies, or bones, in the spine to one another and help keep the spine stable with normal movement. Facet joints are lined with cartilage, contain a small amount of joint fluid, and are encased in a joint capsule. There is a pair of facet joints at each level, and they are named for the vertebral bodies they connect. For example, the L4/5 facet joints connect the lumbar 4 and lumbar 5 vertebral bodies.

How does Facet Joint Arthritis develop?

Each facet joint is lined with cartilage, and over time the cartilage may thin and wear out. As a result, the joint will become inflamed and develop bone spurs, enlarging the joint.  This is also called facet joint hypertrophy. These changes can be due to a variety of factors, but typically anything that puts greater strain on the facet joint over time, such as manual labor, obesity, lack of exercise and deconditioning, will lead to degenerative changes in the joint. Genetic factors may also play a role even in the absence of these factors.

Where does Facet Joint Arthritis occur?

Facet joint arthritis commonly occurs in the low back or lumbar spine. It also occurs in the neck, or cervical spine, and to a lesser extent in the upper back, or thoracic spine. The lower lumbar facet joints, such as L3/4, L4/5, and L5/S1, are the most common location of facet arthritis because they carry the greatest weight compared to other areas of the spine.

What are the symptoms of Facet Joint Arthritis?

In the lumbar spine, the symptoms are typically lower back pain, which may be accompanied by radiation of the pain to the buttocks or the back of the thighs. In the cervical spine, the symptoms are typically neck pain, which may be accompanied by radiation to the shoulders, upper back or to the back of the head. Leaning back and rotating the spine typically worsens the pain. Decreased spinal flexibility and muscle spasm frequently accompany the pain.

How do you diagnose Facet Joint Arthritis?

A proper history and physical exam may suggest facet arthritis. X-ray, CT scan or MRI may confirm the presence of arthritis; however, facet joint arthritis is just one potential cause of low back or neck pain. If interventional treatments are planned, diagnostic injections with local anesthetic are required to confirm that the source of the pain is the facets.

What are the initial treatment options for Facet Joint Arthritis pain?

Anti-inflammatory pain medications, muscle relaxers or other pain medications, activity modification, weight loss, physical therapy, and regular exercise all may be helpful at reducing pain.

What are the options if conservative treatments fail?

Because back and neck pain may have multiple causes, first one must confirm that the facet joints are the source of pain. To determine if the facet joints are causing pain, a diagnostic injection of local anesthetic can be performed, either into the facet joint, or around the nerves that sense pain in the facet joint. These nerves are called the medial branch nerves. If pain is reduced by this diagnostic injection, then a procedure called a rhizotomy is performed. A rhizotomy uses radiofrequency energy to heat the facet joint nerves so that they can no longer sense pain. In cases where an enlarged arthritic facet joint is causing nerve compression or spinal stenosis, referral to a spine surgeon may be indicated.

How do you keep Facet Joint Arthritis pain from returning?

Intermittent flare-ups are common with chronic back and neck pain. The best long-term pain management strategy consists of regularly participating in exercises that restore spine health and stability. With the assistance of a Physical Therapist, participating in a home exercise program that focuses on increasing strength, endurance and flexibility will be the best defense against chronic pain.

Interviewer: We’ve heard it since we were kids, sit up straight. We all know slouching is bad for the back, but sitting up straight can also cause strain. Dr. Rudy Gari from Florida Pain Relief Group is here to help us find the happy medium. Hi Dr. Gari.

Dr. Gari: Hello.

Interviewer: So I think I’m sitting properly right now.

Dr. Gari: Yes, you are. Yes, you are.

Interviewer: Okay. But is there some ways that we can sit that we think we’re doing the right thing but we’re not?

 

 

Dr. Gari: Well, there is something that’s called the loss of lordosis. So people that have for example back pain. So your back should be curved. That’s called the lordosis. It means the curvature of the back that’s natural. And so, that actually allows us to have less back pain when we have that lordosis. Patients that have back pain for example can get muscle spasms and they lose that typical lordosis and now their back is flat. That flatness actually increases the pressure in nerve because our bodies were not designed to sit that way.

So while posture is very important, but often with the terms posture is also your core muscles. So strengthening your core muscles in many ways helps your posture, helps your pain and there is a lot of things that are done with physical therapy.

Interviewer: Yes, indeed. So bad posture can cause not only back pain but what else can that do?

Dr. Gari: Well, it can cause back pain and it can also cause you to pivot the wrong way. It can cause you to have a bad gait and it can lead to a lot of other problems in your back, in your neck, and other places.

Interviewer: I’m thinking neck and headaches from bad posture.

Dr. Gari: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Interviewer: Definitely. Okay. Should we get things for our chairs and…

Dr. Gari: Well, if you think about it, sitting in chairs is not natural.

Interviewer: Okay. So stop sitting?

Dr. Gari: So our bodies weren’t designed to sit but we do. So one of the things that people do is some very simple things. For example, sitting at that big medicine ball. That’s going to correct your posture because your body is gonna normally adjust, your core muscles are going to pick it up to make sure that you don’t fall, that you sit correctly.

Interviewer: So throw out that office chair and get the medicine ball?

Dr. Gari: Throw out the office chair and get that big medicine ball, sit on the medicine ball, stand up. Standing is much better for you than sitting.

Interviewer: All right.

Dr. Gari: And especially when it comes to that pressure on your lower back.

Interviewer: They do have those stand up desks now.

Dr. Gari: Those are pretty good.

Interviewer: Do you recommend that?

Dr. Gari: I absolutely do. High heels can cause some bad posture. I know that you know that though. Everybody likes high heels, we feel good about it but if you have back pain, that’s not…

Interviewer: Put those away.

Dr. Gari: You might wanna put those away for a while.

Interviewer: Too much strain. Let’s talk about picking things up wrong. What are we doing?

Dr. Gari: Well, the worst thing that you can do is to bend forward and pick something up.

Interviewer: Okay. Don’t do that.

Dr. Gari: If you must pick up, don’t use your back muscles to lift that object. You wanna make sure you maintain that lordosis, that curvature. Squat down and use your legs to lift up that object. Sometimes we have those back braces so you can put those on if you have to lift something because that’s gonna help your back. What you don’t wanna do though, you don’t wanna wear those on a regular basis because that will actually weaken your core muscles. We want our core muscles to be the ones doing the work of keeping posture and not get used to those back braces.

Interviewer: So the key to keeping that healthy is keeping this habit?

Dr. Gari: It’s all about the core muscles absolutely, Pilates.

Interviewer: Right, yeah, very well.

Dr. Gari: You know Pilates, right?

Interviewer: Mm-mmh.

Dr. Gari: Pilates was a physician who started that because he had back problems and he did all those exercises for himself.

Interviewer: All right. It might be time to try some of those. Dr. Gari, thank you very much. Florida Pain Relief Group even schedules same-day appointments. You can visit their website,  or give them a call. It is 844 (KICK-PAIN). We’ll be right back with more Daytime so don’t go away.

Cindy: Everyone experiences back pain at some point in their life, whether it be strained muscles, a pinched nerve, or something much more serious. Dr. Rudy Gari from Florida Pain Relief joins us now to talk about why it happens and what we can do to stop it. Hi, Dr. Gari.

Dr. Gari: Hi Cindy, how are you?

Cindy: I’m well and thankfully pain-free right now, but I’ve had back pain and I think everybody that’s watching right now at some point in their lives has had it if they’re not having it right now. What can we do, first of all, to prevent this back pain?

Dr. Gari: Well the first thing that you can do is to make sure that your core muscles are intact. One of the biggest reasons for problems with back pain is that as we get older, our muscles and our core tends to loosen up, and those are really the protectors, and when they loosen up, it gets everything else loose and allows you to maybe twist the wrong way for you to get hurt.

Cindy: Yeah, I’ve done that.

Dr. Gari: Yeah.

Cindy: What about pinched nerves? We hear about that a lot. What can your organization do to help people who have pinched a nerve in their back?

Dr. Gari: A pinched nerve is actually a nerve that’s inflamed. What we can do is first identify exactly which nerve it is. Then if it doesn’t go away with typical physical therapy, medication, and so forth, very mild, we can go ahead and put some medication right exactly into that nerve with a very local anesthetic and something to take away the inflammation. If we take the inflammation, that pain goes away.

Cindy: Because a lot of times when people have back pain, it prevents them from doing any kind of activity, and then that’s a ripple effect for their whole health, isn’t it?

Dr. Gari: Absolutely, because if you think about it, your back is the core of your locomotion. You can’t walk, you can’t do anything, you can’t bend. It’s debilitating.

Cindy: Yeah, it can affect every aspect of your life.

Dr. Gari: Absolutely.

Cindy: What’s the most common back pain people come in complaining of?

Dr. Gari: The most common that we see is either some sort of a strain, or it’s some sort of a herniated disk, which is actually where your spine consists of the 31 different vertebrae, like bones, that hold us up, and there are these little shock absorbers in between. That little shock absorber gel, if it protrudes out it can hit a nerve, cause inflammation, and that can be very debilitating.

Cindy: What’s the option for somebody with a herniated disk? My mom had that.

Dr. Gari: Yeah, the option is to see if it goes away with physical therapy and just rest. If it doesn’t, then before you go and get operated, we can go in right like we talked about earlier, go in and take care of that inflamed nerve. It’s an outpatient procedure.

Cindy: Great.

Dr. Gari: Take away and reduce the inflammation, allow you to get back on your feet again, and eventually that inflammation goes away so that we can try to avoid you from getting surgery.

Cindy: Isn’t that nice? A lot of people will be happy to hear about that. What can people do at home and how can exercise play a role in really protecting our backs and preventing damage?

Dr. Gari: The exercise that you can do is, again, core exercises, especially your abdominal area. Want to make sure that you find ways not to have more extra pounds than you need to. You have to be careful with your exercises because you don’t want to hurt yourself either.

Cindy: Right.

Dr. Gari: But anything that strengthens your abdominal area and your back muscles, that’s the first line of defense before it ends up hitting your spine, which is where some of the problems tend to occur.

Cindy: What about yoga and Pilates? Do you think those are good?

Dr. Gari: Those are very good, absolutely. Stretching, and that all causes a lot of core exercises, yoga and Pilates. They’re very good. In fact, Pilates was actually started by a doctor, Dr. Pilate.

Cindy: Yes, of course.

Dr. Gari: Yes, and Dr. Pilate started this Pilates exercises because he suffers from back pain.

Cindy: See?

Dr. Gari: And he wanted to actually find some exercises where he could actually treat himself, and he treated himself with Pilate exercises.

Cindy: All right, well Dr. Gari, thank you very much. For relief of any kind of pain, you can make the same day appointment today at Florida Pain Relief. Be sure to visit their website, FloridaPainRelief.com, or give them a call. 844-KICK-PAIN. We’ll be right back.

 

Cyndi: Anyone who suffers from chronic back pain knows they’ll try anything to get relief. Well, sometimes that means undergoing surgery. But what if that doesn’t actually work? Failed back surgery syndrome can sometimes be a result, and avoiding surgery is an important measure to stamping out FBSS. Dr. Rudy Gari is here from Florida Pain Relief Group to talk more about this, FBSS, Failed Back Surgery Syndrome.

Dr. Gari: Yes.

Cyndi: Okay. How common is it to see this?

Dr. Gari: It’s very common. So we have great neurosurgeons, they do fantastic work, but unfortunately, you know, it’s not 100%. And so we have some patients that, despite a great surgical procedure, the patient continues to have back pain afterwards. So we actually get a lot of referrals from our surgeons when they’ve done everything possible that they can and they still have that back pain.

Cyndi: Are there certain people, in particular, that are more prone to this?

Dr. Gari: That can really happen to just about anybody. The more surgeries that you have, it makes more sense, the more likely that you are… Because the first surgery has a high success rate, the second one is less, and the third one’s even less. So yes, our surgeons do everything that they can, but unfortunately there are some patients that, despite that, they still continue with pain. And that’s where we come in and we can help out.

Cyndi: I imagine, after going through all that, these patients that are coming to you are at their wit’s end because they’ve tried. They’ve gone through major surgery, and they still have pain. So what can you do for them?

Dr. Gari: Sure. So we can do a lot of things for ’em. The first thing we do is perform a thorough history and physical examination and see what’s going on, make sure there’s nothing else that we can do from a surgical point of view. After that, that’s medications. We can do nerve blocks, physical therapy, spinal cord stimulation, stem cell therapy. There’s a lot of different tools that we can have, and we learn more and more every day. It can be pretty debilitating. I’ve had some patients say, “Doc, I just wanna be able to go to the mall and go shopping. I mean, things that we take for granted, they can’t do that. But we can help them, and sometimes that’s a success, is different treatments to allow you to go shopping, to go do grocery shopping, you know, those kind of things.

Cyndi: Does it require a lot of visits to you to get this relief, or is it something that takes time because everyone wants it fixed, you know, yesterday? But obviously you have to assess what the matter is first and then start with the treatment. But is it ongoing treatment usually, or is it a treatment that’s one time and then you’re good?

Dr. Gari: It’s both. So we have some patients that all that they need is, perhaps, you know, two or three nerve blocks and physical therapy and then they’re good. And then, if they aggravate their back again, they come see us. We have other patients where, you know, they just have a lot of damage. They have a lot of scar tissue and different things where they do require more visits from us.

Cyndi: I hear a lot about people who have pain due to scar tissue. Why does that cause so much pain?

Dr. Gari: So what happens is that a scar can form around the nerve, so that nerve is constantly being squeezed. We actually have a procedure that’s called epidurolysis, and what that does is, is that we can actually go in and try to remove, if not loosen up, that scar tissue. And we do that without surgery. We do it through a needle and then a little bit of a catheter. We can go in there and try to loosen that scar tissue.

Cyndi: And that relieves that nerve.

Dr. Gari: Yes.

Cyndi: Ah, and stops the pinching.

Dr. Gari: It’s that squeezing on the nerves by the scar tissue that is formed around it.

Cyndi: Oh, sounds like some really good advice and good news for a lot of people that are out there right now that are going through this because they may think there’s nowhere else to turn. But there is, definitely.

Dr. Gari: Yes, there is.

Cyndi: Thank you, Dr. Gari. Florida Pain Relief Group even offers a same day appointment, so you can visit their website. It is floridapainreliefgroup.com, or give them a call right now, 844-KICK-PAIN. Dr. Rudy Gari, thanks again.

Dr. Gari: My pleasure.

Cyndi: We’ll be right back.

Lower back pain is something that impacts millions of people each year. The University of Maryland Medical Center estimates that 60 to 80% of American adults experience lower back pain.

Back pain is the top cause of disability for Americans who are 45 years old and younger. It sends millions of people to the doctor each year and some of them end up with permanent damage.

With so many people going through lower back pain, it is important to understand some facts about the subject. Here are some things you should know:

Lower Back Pain Symptoms May Vary

Not all lower back pain has the same signs and symptoms. Some of the most common symptoms of lower back problems include:

  • Lower back stiffness
  • A tender feeling in the lower back
  • Pain that moves to the legs or buttocks
  • Difficulty getting up or standing still for extended periods of time
  • Inability to get in a comfortable position while sitting
  • Pain or weakness in the lower back or legs while walking

Causes of Lower Back Pain Aren’t Always Obvious

Sometimes lower back pain is the result of something specific, like a car accident or an injury. However, there are also times when it can be difficult to determine the exact cause of your lower back pain.

It can sometimes get injured without you realizing it, a twist or strain that you may not notice right away. Other times it could be due to a disk injury, like a bulging disk or a ruptured disk. Lower back pain can be caused by arthritis or osteoporosis.

Tense muscles can be a factor of lower back pain. Kidney stones may cause lower back pain. For women, endometriosis or pregnancy could cause lower back pain. At times, lower back pain could even be a symptom of something more serious, like a tumor or an infection.

There are so many potential causes of lower back pain. This is why consulting a doctor when you have lower back pain can help you determine the exact cause and best treatment.

There are Certain Risk Factors for Lower Back Pain

Though lower back pain could happen to anyone, there are some people who may be more likely than others to have lower back pain. For example, women may be more likely than men to have lower back issues

Some risk factors for lower back pain include:

  • Older age
  • A family history of back pain,
  • Being a smoker
  • Being overweight or obese
  • Anxiety or depression
  • A physical job or lifestyle
  • A job or lifestyle that is sedentary

There are Plenty of Lower Back Pain Treatment Options

With so many potential causes of lower back pain, the right treatment can vary. Sometimes lower back pain can get better by simply improving your overall health. Strengthening your back with exercise and eating healthy may make your back pain improve. Sitting in a chair with proper back support can also help.

When the cause of your lower back pain is something more serious, it may require more in-depth treatment. This might include medication, physical therapy or even surgery.

Talk to a medical professional to figure out what the right treatment is for you.

A compressed or pinched nerve is one of the main reasons you experience back, neck, wrist or leg pain. The delicate nerve fibers get trapped, pinched, squeezed, or injured by a variety of external or internal situations and the neurotransmitters that signal “pain” to the brain go off.

Causes of a compressed nerve can vary from an injury to poor posture to degenerative disorders to obesity. Additionally, the compressed nerve can be a result of a combination of factors.

The pressure on the nerve by surrounding bones, cartilage, muscles, or tendons needs to be relieved sooner than later, or that pain will continue to slow you down – not to mention the nerve can endure permanent damage if not tended to.

We’ve gone into detail about pinched nerves in our conditions section, but let’s recap some of the symptoms you may experience.

Compressed Nerve Symptoms

The following is a small selection of common symptoms of a compressed nerve:

  • Numbness
  • Radiating pain that stems from one specific location
  • Muscle weakness
  • Feeling as if the area has “fallen asleep”

Medical Treatment for a Compressed Nerve

Our specialists offer many solutions for your compressed nerve pain including minimally invasive procedures and physical therapy. Below are a few highlighted pain management options you can receive:

  • Nerve blocks. A nerve block is an anesthetic or anti-inflammatory injection into a particular nerve or group of nerves for pain relief. The aim is to block pain signal(s) coming from a specific location in the body and/or decrease inflammation in that area.
  • Trigger point injections. A Trigger Point Injection (TPI) is an intra-muscular injection of a local anesthetic into muscle trigger points, often accompanied by an anti-inflammatory steroid, to combat specific pain points and chronic pain usually resulting from an injury to the muscle(s) in question.
  • Pulsed radiofrequency. Pulsed radiofrequency treatment is very effective at treating the more difficult types of chronic pain that usually originate from either irritated or damaged nerves.
  • Physical therapy. This enables you to build strength in muscles where you are experiencing pain and weakness.

The prognosis for a full recovery from a pinched nerve is good if you don’t ignore the warning signs and get your pain checked out by a doctor sooner than later. For more information about compressed or pinched nerves, contact us today.

Get Relief from Pain After Back Surgery

When making the decision to go forward with back surgery, the hope is that by having the procedure done it will reduce or eliminate pain.

The reality is that back surgery can be unsuccessful and ultimately leave you with the same level of pain, or even greater pain, than when you first had the procedure.

The issue has become so common that it has a name: Failed Back Syndrome. Tampa pain specialist Dr. Jorge Leal with Physician Partners of America has this first-hand in his patients over the years.

“Sometimes the pain can occur immediately after the surgery.The pain you feel does not get better,” Dr. Leal said. “Sometimes it’s a period of days or weeks after the initial surgery.  The pain goes away but then it comes back.”

Symptoms of Failed Back Syndrome are varied. However, typically a patient will feel pain in their back and usually down one or both of the lower extremities.

“A patient could feel numbness in their legs, tingling sensations and also muscle atrophy,” Dr. Leal said. “If the nerves have been damaged, there could be a loss of reflexes, depending on the degree of residual damage.”

Physician Partners of America offers patients pain relief without surgery.

Treating failed back syndrome can be done using conventional measures such as physical therapy and anti-inflammatory medication. Another option is nerve blocks if they have not been tried in the past.

“If no further surgical treatment is required or desirable, then we look at implantable devices like spinal cord stimulation or a morphine pump,” Dr. Leal said.

The prognosis for someone with Failed Back Syndrome varies widely based on the kind of surgery that was performed and where the pain is coming from. Sometimes the pain will subside with treatment, but it is not a guarantee.

“What we can do is, through various diagnostic nerve blocks, we can identify the pain generator,” said Dr. Leal.  “From there we can concentrate on it and determine the best course of treatment for such a pain generator.”

Finding relief from chronic back pain in Tampa can be a long journey of trial and error. Some doctors who are not specialists may simply recommend an over-the-counter (OTC) treatment plan.

Others will take a dramatically different approach and suggest an invasive surgical procedure to determine the cause of the chronic back pain condition.

For many people, however, neither solution is the right one to help achieve lasting relief from chronic back pain.

In a recent appearance at the WFLA “DayTime” program, Dr. Rodolo Gari, medical director of Florida Pain Relief group in Tampa, FL, explained how a procedure called a Kyphoplasty is a viable non-surgical option for achieve lower back pain relief in Tampa.

Watch the video below to learn more:

What is Facet Joint Arthritis?

Facet joint arthritis is a very common cause of low back and neck pain in adults.  It is a condition in which the small joints, called facets, in the back of the spine become arthritic and painful, similar to the way arthritis in the knee or hip is painful. Facet joint arthritis is also known as facet arthropathy or spondylosis.

What are Facet Joints?

Facet joints connect the vertebral bodies, or bones, in the spine to one another and help keep the spine stable with normal movement. Facet joints are lined with cartilage, contain a small amount of joint fluid, and are encased in a joint capsule. There is a pair of facet joints at each level, and they are named for the vertebral bodies they connect. For example, the L4/5 facet joints connect the lumbar 4 and lumbar 5 vertebral bodies.

How does Facet Joint Arthritis develop?

Each facet joint is lined with cartilage, and over time the cartilage may thin and wear out. As a result, the joint will become inflamed and develop bone spurs, enlarging the joint.  This is also called facet joint hypertrophy. These changes can be due to a variety of factors, but typically anything that puts greater strain on the facet joint over time, such as manual labor, obesity, lack of exercise and deconditioning, will lead to degenerative changes in the joint. Genetic factors may also play a role even in the absence of these factors.

Where does Facet Joint Arthritis occur?

Facet joint arthritis commonly occurs in the low back or lumbar spine. It also occurs in the neck, or cervical spine, and to a lesser extent in the upper back, or thoracic spine. The lower lumbar facet joints, such as L3/4, L4/5, and L5/S1, are the most common location of facet arthritis because they carry the greatest weight compared to other areas of the spine.

What are the symptoms of Facet Joint Arthritis?

In the lumbar spine, the symptoms are typically lower back pain, which may be accompanied by radiation of the pain to the buttocks or the back of the thighs. In the cervical spine, the symptoms are typically neck pain, which may be accompanied by radiation to the shoulders, upper back or to the back of the head. Leaning back and rotating the spine typically worsens the pain. Decreased spinal flexibility and muscle spasm frequently accompany the pain.

How do you diagnose Facet Joint Arthritis?

A proper history and physical exam may suggest facet arthritis. X-ray, CT scan or MRI may confirm the presence of arthritis; however, facet joint arthritis is just one potential cause of low back or neck pain. If interventional treatments are planned, diagnostic injections with local anesthetic are required to confirm that the source of the pain is the facets.

What are the initial treatment options for Facet Joint Arthritis pain?

Anti-inflammatory pain medications, muscle relaxers or other pain medications, activity modification, weight loss, physical therapy, and regular exercise all may be helpful at reducing pain.

What are the options if conservative treatments fail?

Because back and neck pain may have multiple causes, first one must confirm that the facet joints are the source of pain. To determine if the facet joints are causing pain, a diagnostic injection of local anesthetic can be performed, either into the facet joint, or around the nerves that sense pain in the facet joint. These nerves are called the medial branch nerves. If pain is reduced by this diagnostic injection, then a procedure called a rhizotomy is performed. A rhizotomy uses radiofrequency energy to heat the facet joint nerves so that they can no longer sense pain. In cases where an enlarged arthritic facet joint is causing nerve compression or spinal stenosis, referral to a spine surgeon may be indicated.

How do you keep Facet Joint Arthritis pain from returning?

Intermittent flare-ups are common with chronic back and neck pain. The best long-term pain management strategy consists of regularly participating in exercises that restore spine health and stability. With the assistance of a Physical Therapist, participating in a home exercise program that focuses on increasing strength, endurance and flexibility will be the best defense against chronic pain.

Are you the cause of your back pain?

Back pain usually doesn’t pop up out of anywhere and typically has a cause that begins and ends with what you’ve done. We’re not here to point fingers and ridicule, but if you learn the following five ways people hurt their back then perhaps you can stop the behavior and do yourself a favor.

5 Actions That Kill Your Back

  1. Your commute to work (and back home again.) A lot of people sit for a lot of time in morning traffic on their way to the daily grind, and in evening traffic on their way home. While this isn’t necessarily something to blame yourself for, there are things you could be doing to lessen the potential for pain in your back. Items like a heated massage cushion for your car could not only provide a nice massage on the way to and from work – like a traveling spa day, every day – it could also loosen those back muscles that get stiff and tense being stuck in the same position for so long.
  2. You sit at your desk for too long. Most nine-to-five office jobs force people into tiny cubicles with uncomfortable chairs and the bosses somehow expect to see productivity skyrocket in this environment. If you simply took your back massage cushion out of the car and into work, you’d be much more relaxed all day which could not only lead to less pain in your back but perhaps a better job performance. Alternatively, standing up and stretching every couple of hours could help blood circulation and relieve any back muscle cramps in addition to allowing your spine to stretch.
  3. You lift heavy objects the wrong way. You’ve heard “lift with your knees” a thousand times, but for some reason bending over with stiff legs to grab a heavy box is the norm. This is very typical and quite often the reason someone experiences lower back pain. Too much stress on the spine without using the legs to help evenly distribute the weight of the package can and will cause back issues. Just remember that if an old saying is still around, there’s a reason for it.
  4. You’re sleeping on a bad mattress. They say you should replace your mattress every 8 years because, quite honestly, at that point, it has collected quite a bit of your sweat and the number of dust mites is now holds is extremely unhealthy. On top of that, the springs or whatever mechanism used to balance and carry your weight have long since gone out and you are no longer getting the proper support your body needs – and your back gets punished for it. When selecting a new mattress, make sure you give it a test run to make sure it provides both the comfort and protection your back needs.
  5. You’re a “Weekend Warrior.” Hey, who doesn’t love a good game of football or pickup game of basketball on the weekend with friends? It’s a great way to shake off the stress of the work week and unwind while getting that much-needed exercise. However, the spin moves and slam dunks aren’t going over so well with your unconditioned back that is more used to that office chair than the end zone. You have to be careful when playing sports or getting too physical if you’re also not hitting the gym and getting your body into game time shape.

Now, this isn’t meant for you to sell your car, quit your desk job, or stop playing sports on the weekend – all that is great. This article is meant to simply make you aware of some of the things you might be doing (unintentionally or unaware) that are causing unnecessary pain in your back. That said, if you are experiencing pain in your back on a constant basis and have yet to find relief, Physician Partners of America specializes in minimally invasive pain therapy right here in Tampa.