Dr. Mark Downey, a board-certified specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, administers an epidural spinal injection to relieve back pain.
Many studies show that nonsurgical treatment options for back and neck pain can yield similar long-term results to spine surgery.
If you are experiencing back pain, or if you have been told you need spine surgery, a second opinion at SpineGroup Alabama can provide non-surgical treatment options to help avoid spine surgery. Although surgery can be an appropriate option for those patients with badly herniated discs, many cases of back and neck pain can respond well to nonsurgical treatments like a spinal injection and home remedies.
Many times, surgeons who are biased towards surgery may fail to share the array of non-surgical treatment options available to the patient. Part of the problem is that some surgeons are simply not knowledgeable or trained in the array of nonsurgical options that are available today.
SpineGroup Alabama exhausts non-surgical options first. This includes the use of spinal injections that can relieve the pressure caused by a herniated disc pressing on adjacent nerve roots, a condition that creates pain that radiates into a leg or arm. The spinal injection treatment at SpineGroup Alabama is an in-office procedure that can take as little as 20 minutes.
A more serious symptom, however, is where the patient experiences numbness or weakness into a hand or foot. The patient cannot use watchful waiting for numbness or weakness because those symptoms can become permanent and lifelong if they wait beyond a few days to relieve the pressure on the nerve, explains Dr. Downey.
As a community service, Spine Group Alabama mails out a free 36-page Home Remedy Book with customized stretches that can relieve some back and neck pain symptoms. Enter your name and address and we will mail you a copy.
Download our free 16-page Back to Life Journal that shows how to get back to golf, tennis, hiking and more with home remedies. Insert your email to subscribe and download.
Some symptoms can become permanent if you don’t see the physician with in 24 hours. Find out when you can use “watchful waiting” and when you have an emergency symptom.
What do exercises have to do with relieving pain? Research in sports medicine and spine care exercises have shown to help relieve joint, ligament, muscle problems in the legs, arms, neck and back and increase range of motion.
Spine Group Alabama specializes in the treatment of back pain, neck pain, herniated discs, and all types of ligament strain related to the neck and low back. Spine Group Alabama is referred back and neck pain patients from across Alabama, including Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Hunstville and Montgomery.
